


Baby Steps

by EMStyles94x



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Dad Harry, Domestic Fluff, Domestic Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Family Fluff, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Kid Fic, M/M, Single Parent Harry, Single Parent Louis, dad louis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-02-13 06:10:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 38,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12977754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EMStyles94x/pseuds/EMStyles94x
Summary: Harry Styles can remember three days in his life so far that changed it undeniably for the better with perfect clarity:1.	The day he decided he wanted to be a father2.	The day his daughter was born3.	The day Louis Tomlinson walked into his lifeAn indulgent kid fic where Harry thinks he wants to do it all on his own, and then he meets Louis.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first piece of writing in a very long time. I took a good long while off and explored other things but it seems I cannot escape the urge to write. This has been almost six months in the making. Please be kind and please enjoy.

**PROLOGUE**

 

“Niall,” Harry breathes into his phone’s receiver, “it worked.”

 

“It worked?” Niall echoes in question.

 

“Yeah. It worked.”

 

“Mate,” Niall says and Harry can already hear the smile in his voice, “I’m so happy for you. Congratulations. You’re going to be a dad. I can’t believe it.”

 

_He’s going to be a dad._ Harry can hardly believe it either. 

 

It’s been a long road, with a few difficult battles to get where he is now; standing in a bathroom stall with his phone pressed to his ear and telling his best friend that his surrogate is carrying his child, but now that he can finally say it, he knows it’s been worth it. His mother was understandably weary when her son came to her announcing that he wanted to do parenthood all on his own, but, like everyone who's ever gotten to know Harry, she knew that he was made to be a father. His love for babies borders on obsession and his broodiness, oftentimes could not be rivalled by any woman, or man for that matter. It was only a matter of time before Harry grew serious about wanting a child to call his own. In an ideal world, he’d have been in a steady relationship, but eventually Harry decided that wasn’t a pre-requisite. Harry is young, he’s still got time to fall in love. That will happen when it’s meant to.

 

For now, Harry has a steady job that provides him with more than enough income to support a child, he has a roof over his head with a spare room that has no purpose yet and he has an incredible support system of family and friends. A baby is just another piece of the jigsaw that he’s been waiting to fit in.

 

“I know.” Harry replies and he can hear his own shaky voice echoing off the empty bathroom walls. He’s just so happy. His heart has grown three sizes already simply thinking of the child that he’s going to have in nine months time. “Shannon said she’s only six weeks along so it’s all still a bit tense, but Niall, it worked. I can’t believe it worked.”

 

“It must be meant to be, Haz.”

 

Harry releases a shaky breath. It's a statement Harry’s glad to hear, it's something he’s felt in his bones and a feeling he’s tried not to let go of despite other people giving him their opinions and judgments about his proposed single father status. Harry promised himself that if it didn't take the first time, it wasn’t the right time for him and he would wait a bit longer. But _it worked_ , Shannon’s pregnant and Harry is so overwhelmed with elation that he can feel the sting of tears burning in his eyes. He tries to sniff them back and hears Niall’s fond chuckle in response.

 

“You happy?” he asks as if he doesn’t already know the answer.

 

“I couldn’t be happier,” he replies, laughing to cover up the happy sob that tries to escape.

 

“I’ll let you go so you can have a little cry. I really am excited for you, Harry.”

 

“Thank you, Niall. I’ll see you soon.”

 

“See you soon, buddy.”

 

Once the call ends, Harry feels a couple of tears slide down his cheeks. He takes a look at himself in the mirror above the sink he’s been resting on and while his nose is red, cheeks blush coloured and eyes bloodshot, he also looks like he’s glowing. He might not be the one pregnant, but that doesn’t make him feel any less accomplished. Harry smiles at himself in the mirror, a tad in disbelief that this is happening to the man he can see staring back at him in his reflection. Harry’s been called all sorts of names throughout his life-names pertaining to his height, his hair, his sexuality as well as everyday nicknames his friends and family give him-but the one thing he can’t wait to be called is Dad.

 

Just as Harry starts to imagine the voice of his child calling him Daddy, he hears the hinges of the bathroom door creak along with light footsteps and someone else comes into the bathroom. In an effort to not to look like a weirdo smiling at his own reflection, Harry turns on the tap and begins washing his hands. The owner of the footsteps pays him no mind as he goes over to a urinal to do his business. Harry sniffs back the rest of his tears and splashes some water over his face before he figures he's ready to head back to work. 

 

“You alright, mate?” 

 

The voice is light and quite obviously northern. The question is careful. They are strangers in a bathroom after all.

 

Harry turns his head to the left just as the other person comes up to the sinks. He’s about half a head, maybe even a whole head, shorter than Harry but carries himself with an air of confidence, or at least that’s what Harry’s guesses with how relaxed his posture is. Mousey brown hair covers his head and sweeps across his forehead in a soft fringe, the same colour as the stubble dusted over his sharp jawline and chin. In his assessment, Harry has obviously taken too long to answer the stranger’s question because the stranger’s eyes-striking blue eyes, Harry notices-dart up to meet Harry's own, almost as if he’s looking for the answer himself.

 

“I’m fine, thank you.” Harry finally answers in one quick breath. This man is attractive and Harry is only human. “I’ve just had some brilliant news so I sneaked away for some privacy.”

 

At that, the corners of the stranger’s lips turn up a little.

 

“Oh, cool. Well, whatever it is, congratulations, or well done, or whatever phrase suits the situation.” The stranger shakes his head at his own rambling, Harry finds it endearing.

 

“I’m having a baby.” Harry tells him with a smile that hurts his face. It just feels so good to say that out loud.

 

“Well, congratulations in that case. I remember the feeling.”

 

Harry is intrigued. “You have a baby?”

 

The stranger sighs but he’s still smiling. “He’s not so much a baby anymore. He’s two.”

 

His eyes look so full of love and adoration. Harry can’t wait until people look at him and see that in his eyes too. Suddenly, he has tons of questions he wants to ask this stranger about his experiences with parenthood. After a quick assessment that he hopes goes unnoticed, Harry can see that the stranger isn't wearing a wedding ring, so he’s either unmarried and in a relationship, or a single dad, just like Harry will be. Harry could use some advice.

 

“I miss him being a tiny baby,” the stranger continues. “Treasure that new baby smell, I’m telling you.” Harry already knows he will. “The sleepless nights I don’t miss, though. I’m so glad he’s in a routine now.”

 

“The sleepless nights were worth it though, right?” Harry asks him with a smirk.

 

“Worth every single lost second,” the stranger agrees and smiles wider. Harry does too. Baby talk always turns him giddy and mushy and sappy. “You look like you’re looking forward to it.”

 

“I am.” Harry replies with a vigorous nod. “Sleepless nights, dirty nappies and all of that.”

 

“Well, good luck,” the (attractive) stranger says, wiping his hands dry on his trousers. “With the excitement that’s radiating off you, I’m sure you’ll do great.”

 

“Thanks.” The stranger is retreating towards the door, still smiling at Harry. “See you.”

 

The stranger just smirks before he pushes through the bathroom door, shooting one last fleeting look over his shoulder at Harry still stood in his same place in the bathroom. Once the door swings shut and Harry is once again alone, he realises just how long he’s been in there. The rest of the crew probably think he’s taking a rather troubling dump. He begins to move towards the door as well, absently wondering if his bathroom stranger is going to be in the crowd of tonight’s show. Harry feels a twinge of disappointment that he won’t have the chance to look. Being in control of the sound of a concert requires every ounce of his concentration. But why would he anyway? It was just a random meeting in a bathroom. A random conversation that took up a tiny portion of his day.

 

But even with that in mind, Harry has always been a big believer in fate. Something about meeting that man, on this day feels significant. Harry just hasn’t got the slightest clue why.


	2. CHAPTER ONE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A word of warning, updates will be very slow but I hope to make up for it in length.
> 
> Please enjoy and be kind.

** I - BEAUTIFUL **

Harry’s heart is in his throat. It’s only been two minutes since he got the phone call that Shannon has gone into labour but he’s already shaking, despite being told that Shannon isn’t even going to hospital for another few hours yet and that she’d call him when she was so he could make his way there too. But this is his baby she’s having. Of course he’s already panicking and second guessing everything he’s done to prepare for the arrival of his child. He wants his mum, but he also wants to do this on his own just to prove that he’s definitely ready for this even though up until two minutes ago Harry would have told you he couldn’t possibly be more ready.

Instead of calling his mum or his sister, Harry takes a couple of deep breaths and decides to give the baby’s room a quick once over to make sure everything is in order for his daughter’s arrival.

His daughter. Harry still isn’t used to thinking about that.

He remembers the day he found out he was having a daughter so vividly. He was pleasantly surprised to be invited along to Shannon’s scan mid way through her pregnancy. As far as he had understood through his research, tagging along to doctors appointments and scans wasn’t really protocol in his type of situation. But he’d chosen Shannon for a reason. When he’d met her, she was warm and friendly and openly expressed how nice it was to see that Harry was already so dedicated and excited. Instantly, they’d hit it off and out of this experience, Harry’s not only gaining a daughter, but a really good friend.

_“Are you ready, Harry?” Shannon says to him._

_Harry had been shaking like a leaf the entire time and he knew Shannon could tell but all she’d done was smile at him indulgently. She knows how much this means to him, not only that she is carrying his child, but that she is allowing him all the moments to cherish along the way. Shannon’s name has been called and she’s already pushing out of the chair when she speaks, but Harry is frozen. Suddenly the reality of the situation crashes down on him. This is the first time he’s going to see his child. He’s quite possibly going to find out if it’s a little boy or girl and hear his or her tiny little heart beat._

_A hand on his shoulder jolts him into action. “Yeah,” he manages to say. “Yes, I’m ready,” he says much more confidently._

_Following after Shannon, Harry takes a few deep breaths and mentally lists all of the people he’ll need to call after this. The walk to the room is starting to feel never ending and the anticipation has been swallowing Harry whole since Shannon had phoned him yesterday to ask if he was free to accompany her. He can feel his heart rate picking up with each step closer. It’s just about ready to beat clean out of his chest when Shannon comes to a stop outside a door near the end of the hallway. She knocks twice before pushing it open and just the sight of the screens he’s going to see the image of his baby on is enough to start the stinging behind his eyes and the swelling of the lump in his throat._

_There’s a woman fiddling with some equipment and she looks up when she hears them enter with a welcoming smile on her face._

_“Hi, Shannon,” she says first before taking note of Harry lingering nervously behind her. “You must be Harry,” she greets him with an outstretched hand. “I’m Mary, it's a pleasure to meet you. You’re the father, correct?”_

_“Yes,” Harry replies, proud smile spreading across his lips. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”_

_“Would you like to take a seat next to Shannon over there?” She gestures to an empty chair to the right of the bed Shannon is currently clambering onto. Harry nods, unable to form any words now that the traitorous emotional lump has returned to his throat. “Great, I’ll be with you in a second, I’m just finishing getting set up for you.”_

_Once Harry is seated, he fiddles awkwardly with his bottom lip, the hem and buttons of his shirt, a fraying thread on the knee of his jeans-anything to distract his mind from the overwhelming emotion he’s already feeling and nothing has even happened yet. Shannon has made herself comfortable, her t-shirt already rolled up. The swell of her tummy makes Harry’s bottom lip wobble and he hears a chuckle come from the head of the bed._

_“You can touch it if you want.” Shannon tells him._

_Harry breathes a shaky breath. “You wouldn’t mind?” Shannon shakes her head. Trembling, Harry reaches out a hand until it settles on the warmth of her rounded stomach. The bump is small and neat and Harry wonders what that means about his baby. Are they growing well? Are they in the right position?_

_“They’re moving in there.” Shannon tells him. “I think they know it’s their Daddy.”_

_Harry’s heart leaps. He rubs over Shannon’s bump gently and feels a lone tear escape. He laughs at his own mushiness, wiping away the tear with his knuckle. Shannon pats the hand he has on her stomach in comfort before he slides it away to allow Mary to get to work. He’s more excited than ever now. However, for what feels like a lengthy stretch of time, all he can hear is the clicking of keys. He’s getting anxious now, his brain running away with him as it conjures up all sorts of worries because Mary isn’t saying anything, her face doesn’t give anything away either. Instead, he looks up to Shannon for reassurance. She looks completely at ease which calms him some._

_Finally, Mary looks over at them. “Are you ready?” She aims the question more towards Harry than Shannon._

_“I’m ready.” Harry says and it’s the strongest his voice has sounded all morning._

_Mary turns the screen around that she’s been looking at and Harry loses his breath all at once. There on the screen he can clearly make out the head, body and one tiny arm of his child. His child is staring at him on the screen, the same child that isn’t even two feet away from him. Harry grips onto the edge of Shannon’s bed as his emotions spill over, he doesn’t want to sob no matter how much his body is begging him to let it out, so he settles for biting his wobbly lip instead whilst tears run down his cheeks. And then, to put the cherry on top of his cake, Mary hits a button and the sound of a thundering heartbeat, not dissimilar to the sound of a train, comes through the speakers and that is enough for Harry’s resolve to crumble completely. He barks out something thats halfway between a happy sob and an incredulous laugh. A hand lands on top of his and he grips it tightly._

_“That’s your baby, Harry.” Shannon says quietly, squeezing his fingers._

_Harry just nods his head like a bobblehead. He can’t scramble together any words to describe how happy he is or how thankful he is to Shannon for allowing him to have this. ‘Thank you’ seems like such a measly thing to say._

_“Are we finding out the sex today?” Mary asks._

_No answer comes and Harry glances between Shannon and Mary in question before he realises they’re both looking at him._

_“Up to you, Harry.” Shannon says._

_Harry nods and then looks back at Mary. “Yes, please.”_

_With a smile, Mary announces, “This is your little girl.”_

_Harry starts crying anew._

As Harry runs his finger over the scan picture from that day that he has framed on the chest of drawers in the baby’s room, he feels his lip wobble. He swallows past the lump in his throat and looks at the empty crib in the corner that won’t be empty for much longer. The wardrobe opposite is full of clothes, each drawer in the chest is full to the brim with any supplies he could possibly need to care for a newborn baby and in the kitchen, the steriliser is already set up and there are plenty of bottles all ready to go. He has dummies and a blanket his mum knitted and a teddy his sister bought. He’s so ready for this.

There’s only one thing left to do, and that’s to install the carseat in the back seat of his car. He figures he may as well do it now, it’ll keep his mind occupied and stop him from worrying himself silly. Maybe he’ll call Niall to come and give him a bit of support. Once he gets the phone call to give him the green light he thinks he’ll be too shaky with excitement and anticipation to drive.

Before he starts, he watches a quick YouTube tutorial on how his carseat is installed. It doesn’t seem too hard, but as he reaches for the seatbelt in the back of his car, Harry notices his hands are shaking slightly. Once he’s noticed that, Harry suddenly feels the thundering of his heart and the pounding of blood in his ears. The clip wont go into the buckle and he's biting on his lip so much he tastes the copper tinge of blood.

Screw proving anything to anyone. Harry wants his mum. He wants the reassurance and comfort that only she can give him. She might be too far away for a hug right now, but her voice will do the trick. He abandons the half installed seat and slams his car door shut, making his way back into his house as he digs his phone out of his jeans pocket. His mum’s contact is second on his recent calls list and without any more hesitation, he taps on her name and brings the phone to his ear. The dull ring does nothing to calm him, if anything it only amps him up more, piling on the worry that she won’t answer and he’ll be left pacing his living room and panicking. Just as he’s about to give up, the ringing stops and there’s a crackle on the other end of the phone, shortly followed by his mum’s voice saying a soft, “Hello?”

Instantly, just from the sound of her voice, a wave of calm rushes over Harry and he stops pacing.

“Hi, Mum,” he replies, shoulders sagging from their tensed position by his ears.

“How are you? Is everything alright?”

For lack of anything else to tell her that he already didn’t last night, he gets straight to the point. “Shannon has gone into labour and I’m panicking.”

On the other end, he hears his mum gasp. He knows why, technically Shannon is two weeks early but Harry’s already read that delivering between thirty-eight and forty-two weeks is a safe zone, so he’s not worried about that.

“That’s nothing to panic over, darling. Thirty-eight weeks is fine.”

“I know.” Harry tells her. “That’s not what I’m panicking about.”

“What is it, then? What’s worrying you?”

Harry could lie, he could just tell her he’s being silly and that he’s just hideously nervous. However, his mum would see straight through his lie and she’d dig for the truth. He might as well just give it to her straight, even if it means facing every insecurity he’s been ignoring since the moment Shannon told him she was pregnant. Steeling himself, Harry takes a deep breath and then he lets it all out.

“What if I’m not ready, Mum? What if everyone is right and I’m not actually able to do it on my own?” He doesn’t stop for breath or to let his mum get a word in now that he’s started. “It’s not like I can give the baby back if it doesn’t work out. She’s mine. I made her but what if I can’t be the dad she deserves? Maybe I should have waited until I was married or in a long term relationship at least? I’m just so worried, Mum, and I-“

“Harry!” his mum interrupts him in a shrill voice. “Stop and take a breath for a second and calm down.” Harry does as he's told. He feels the tightness in throat signifying he’s about ten seconds away from crying. “Firstly, you know you’re ready. You’ve been ready for this for a long time and you’re in a better position than most to be able to do this now.” Harry swallows thickly and nods, humming his agreement so his mum knows he’s listening. “Secondly, it doesn’t matter what anyone else says. Do you love that little girl?”

“So much.” Harry says and he means it. He might not have met her yet but he knows he’ll only love her more when he does.

“And are you going to do your best to give her a good life and raise her well?”

“Yes,” he replies though he knows his mum already expected him to say that.

“Then that’s what’s important. You’re going to be one of probably thousands of single parents, Harry. And most of them probably come from less happy circumstances. You’re doing this because you’re a strong young man with all the love in the world to give, and until there’s a man who is deserving of some of that love for you to share your life with, you can shower your daughter in all of that love. What little girl wouldn’t want that, Harry?” Harry doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t have to. His mum barrels on. “What you’re doing is brilliant, love. I’m so proud of you, do you know that? I can’t wait to brag about my brilliant son and granddaughter. So you stop this silliness now, do you hear me?” 

He can hear now that she’s choked up too. Harry let a few tears slip somewhere in the middle of her speech as well. He knows in his heart that she’s right. Every single world she’s said is the honest truth. Yes, Harry dreams of falling in love, but there’s time for that. For now (and forever) he’ll love his little girl and he’ll be the best dad he’s ever dreamt of being.

“Thanks, Mum,” he says, softly. He doesn’t feel like it’s enough, but it’ll have to do.

“My pleasure. Now, do you need me to come down there tonight? Or shall I aim for lunchtime tomorrow instead?”

Harry takes a deep breath and exhales the last of his freakout out through his nose. Glancing up to the clock, he sees it’s almost midday.

“Lunchtime tomorrow sounds about right at the moment. I’ll keep you updated when I find out more about what’s going on.”

“Ok, love. Good luck, ok? Your baby girl will be here soon and make sure you give her plenty of kisses and cuddles.”

“I will.” Harry promises. “I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

The two them say a quick slew of goodbyes and as soon as Harry puts the phone down he feels infinitely better. His hands have stopped shaking and his mind isn’t running at ten thousand miles an hour so he decides to finish off installing the carseat and then maybe he’ll make some lunch and call Niall.

His baby girl’s arrival isn’t far away now.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

“Ok, in through the nose and out through the mouth.”

“I’m not the one in labour, Niall!” Harry barks from the passenger seat. “Just please get us to the hospital.”

“I’m sorry! I’m trying to help.”

“And you’d be doing a wonderful job if I was an hour away from pushing a baby out, but I’m not. I appreciate the sentiment though.”

A little over twenty minutes ago, Harry finally got the call he’d been waiting for. It had woken him from a light doze on the couch and even though it was two in the morning and Niall was in a much deeper sleep than him in the armchair opposite, Harry still woke him up and told him to put his shoes on. His baby girl was just over an hour or so away. Niall was groggy and confused, but as soon as Harry mentioned that his goddaughter wasn't long from being welcomed into the world, Niall was suddenly alert and scrambling for Harry’s car keys with-if Harry wasn’t mistaken-a sheen of tears in his eyes. Now the two of them are over excited and anxious and all Harry is thinking about is hearing his daughter’s voice as she shouts her arrival into the world and feeling her weight in his arms.

The journey to the hospital feels like it takes forever and no time at all at the same time. Niall parks up, but before Harry can throw open the door, Niall places a hand on his shoulder. Harry turns and his jaw drops when he sees the raw emotion in Niall’s eyes. There’s so much there that he’s got his nose scrunched and his eyes are red.

“I’m so proud of you and so, so happy for you, Harry.” Niall tells him, earnestly. “You deserve this, and you’re going to be the best dad in the world.”

Harry has known Niall for almost a decade now, he’s been there through so many of Harry’s tumultuous ups and downs and not once has Harry seen this much emotion come from him. Once again, his bottom lip trembles, but he doesn’t want to cry. He sucks the tears back and squeezes Niall’s hand on his shoulder instead.

“Thank you.”

“Now go in there and get your baby girl. I’m gonna kip out here for a bit.”

With a wet chuckle, Harry nods and opens his door. Once his feet hit the pavement and he sees the entrance to the hospital, his heart pounds. This is really it. He’s walking in there as Harry Styles; normal twenty-six year old man, but he’s going to walk out Harry Styles; father. Harry hoists the hospital bag he prepared over his shoulder and walks with determined and excited strides. He finds his way to the maternity ward easily, almost like he’s floating his way there. He gives the woman at the desk Shannon’s name and explains she’s his surrogate and without further ado, he’s lead down to her room. He still feels floaty when he knocks on the door. Someone he doesn’t recognise answers, but judging by the scrubs, it’s Shannon’s attending nurse. He greets her with a smile and then steps into the room. Shannon is lying on the bed, hair tied in a bun on the top of her head and forehead shining. Her face is scrunched up in pain and she’s squeezing the hand of a woman stood next to her. Harry thinks it might be her mum. The woman leans down and says something in her ear and Shannon manages to peel her eyes open and catch Harry’s gaze.

“Hi, Harry,” she says, strained. “You’re just in time.”

Harry feels like he shouldn’t really be here. He doesn’t think its protocol for him to be inside the surrogate’s room whilst she’s delivering. He figured he’d wait outside and a nurse would hand his baby to him once she’d arrived. He’s confused to say the least.

“Should I wait outside?” he asks, his voice shaky with both uncertainty and nerves.

“You don't want to be here when she’s born?” Shannon asks in what seems like a rare moment of relaxation.

“I..I do.” Harry stutters. “I just didn’t think it was allowed.”

“She’s your baby, Harry. You should see her be brought into the world and be the first person to hold her.”

Harry’s chin trembles and this time, he’s powerless to his tears. The first one spills over as he nods at Shannon and she smiles fondly at him, almost like she doesn’t realise how huge this is for him, but he knows she does otherwise she wouldn’t offer him this in the first place.

“We recommend skin on skin contact for baby’s first touch,” the midwife tells him. “When we start delivering you might want to take off your shirt.”

He’s still sniffling and there are still a few rogue tears but Harry nods in understanding and then deposits the bag he brought on the spare chair in the far corner of the room. He figures he’ll take up residence there in order to stay out of the way until he’s needed. Every now and again, Shannon’s face screws up in pain, and she grunts a little, but she’s nothing like the women he's seen on television. She doesn’t scream the place down, she just lies quietly and lets her body do the work. Harry finds it almost mesmerising to watch. The nurse keeps flitting in and out over the course of the next hour, and just as Harry is beginning to doze off in his chair, head lolling against his shoulder, the nurse announces that Shannon is ready to start pushing.

Harry is immediately out of his chair. His hands start sweating and his heart is going so fast it’s almost painful. He doesn’t know how quick this next part is going to go, so he peels off his t-shirt and places it on the chair before tentatively making his way over to the bottom of the bed.

“You can stand here, love,” the nurse says, gesturing just off to the side of her left shoulder. 

From there it happens quickly, so quickly Harry worries he’s going to blink and miss something. Shannon becomes more vocal, the nurses keep coaching her and giving her encouragement, Shannon pushes, she breathes, pushes and breathes, all while Harry stands there speechless and overwhelmed and feeling like a bit of a spare part until finally, a little brown head of hair emerges, shortly followed by her tiny body and Harry is cutting the umbilical cord with shaky hands before his daughter is passed into his awaiting arms.

The first skin on skin contact is electric. Harry feels it throughout his entire body. She’s a real, solid, wailing weight in his arms and the rush of love he feels is so much it overflows in the form of tears on his cheeks and giddy laughter.

The last nine months, hell, the last year of Harry's life has been culminating towards this moment and it’s more than he could have ever imagined. 

His baby girl is finally here and nothing has ever felt more right.

He doesn’t get much time with her before the nurses take her from him to clean her up and weigh her and make sure everything is ok. In the meantime, he slips his shirt back on and then he grabs hold of Shannon’s hand, she looks exhausted but satisfied, and he thanks her repeatedly.

“You’re so welcome, Harry.” she says between deep breaths. “I want to see you after this you know. We’ll have to meet up.”

“Of course.” Harry agrees without hesitation. He knows they're going to remain good friends.

“Enjoy your daughter, Harry.”

“I will.”

The delivery is not yet finished, so Harry is escorted from the room by a kind nurse who tells him where he’ll be able to find his baby girl. They’re apparently going to take her to a nursery. All he has to do is ask for Baby Styles. He follows the instructions the nurse gives him, floating down the hallways like he’s in a dream. He feels like he is, at least until he gets to a wall made almost entirely of large windows, inside of which are rows of incubators with babies in them, colour coded depending on the sex. Third one along on the second row, is a baby girl and he’s certain she’s his. He doesn’t know why, but he is instantly drawn to her, his fingers itching to reach for her.

Just as he raises his palm to the window, a young nurse taps him on the shoulder.

“Are you looking for a certain baby?”

“Baby Styles.” Harry replies. “I’m her father.”

Part of him can’t believe he’s just said that out loud. Saying it out loud however feels like the last piece of the puzzle fitting into place. Any nerves he’d had, any worries, they’ve all disappeared. He feels ready. He’s itching to put his abilities to the test. Most importantly, Harry just wants to take her home.

The nurse takes him to his daughter and his instincts were right. Third one in on the second row, his baby girl is wearing a little pink hat and is swaddled in a standard white blanket. He already wants to exchange it for the one his mum knitted. Instead, he reaches into the incubator and lifts her into his arms, cradling her ever so gently in the crook of his elbow as he lifts her head to his lips to plant his first kiss there. Her skin is soft and warm. She is unbelievably beautiful.

“She looks like you,” the nurse says. “Do you know what you’re going to name her?”

Throughout the pregnancy he’s been bouncing ideas for names off of everyone who’ll indulge him. In the end, he’d narrowed it down to two. Now, looking at her tiny button nose, dark eyelashes and chubby little cheeks, he knows exactly which one to pick.

“Bonnie,” Harry tells her. Saying it out loud makes him smile wider than he already is. Everything in him feels settled and at peace. This is exactly what he’s meant to be doing.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

After spending an hour with Bonnie in the nursery (enough time to do her first feed and her first nappy-he feels quite accomplished already), Harry leaves her in the care of the nurses for just a little longer so he can grab a cup of tea and a bite to eat and make all the necessary calls to people who are waiting to hear of Bonnie’s arrival. His mum openly sobs with joy down the phone before telling him they’ll be with him by lunchtime. Gemma, his sister, is also ecstatic and manages to wake up her boyfriend with all the commotion she makes. Her boyfriend grumbles but also send his congratulations. He also calls Niall, but he's obviously still sleeping, so instead, he leaves him a cheery voicemail and promises to be out within the next hour.

With all of that done, he finishes off his croissant and sips the last dregs of his tea before he decides he’s already spent too much time away from his daughter. With quick steps, Harry begins making his way back to the nursery. Despite the early hour, he’s so chipper that he’s whistling, already lost in his head thinking about finally seeing Bonnie in the room he spent weeks and weeks setting up for her. He's so lost in his head that he barrels straight into someone coming in the opposite direction.

“Oops.” Harry says, suddenly back in the real world. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t concentrating.”

“It’s alright.” the stranger replies, but the tone of voice sparks a current of recognition in Harry. The stranger looks up and all Harry sees is blue, blue eyes and he knows he’s seen this person before. The stranger seems to be contemplating him in the same way. Slowly, his mind flashes back to a bathroom and the day he’d gotten the magical phone call that’s lead to him standing right here. The stranger seems to come to the same realisation at the same time because he slowly smiles at Harry and says, “Hi.”

“Hello.” Harry greets him with a chuckle. “We met in a bathroom once, right?” Harry asks to be sure.

“Yeah. You’d just found out you were having a baby, if I remember rightly.”

Harry is shocked. “Um, yeah. She was actually born a couple of hours ago, funnily enough.”

“No way! Congratulations, mate!” Harry smiles wide at the words. “What a weird coincidence, eh?”

“Right?” Harry agrees. “I’m Harry, by the way.” He holds out his hand.

“Louis,” he replies and slides his hand into Harry’s to shake it. His skin is soft, Harry notices. “And this,” Louis continues, gesturing to a small boy Harry hadn’t noticed until now, “is my son, Freddie, the reason we’ve ended up here today.”

From behind Louis’ legs, a little boy shyly peers around. He is the replica of Louis; same big blue eyes, same pointed nose and exact same thin lips. Harry would bet money on them sharing the same expressions when they laugh or smile. He even notices they’re wearing the same trainers. Freddie looks tired, his head leaning heavily on Louis’ leg and his hands gripping tightly onto his dad’s jeans. Looking at him, Harry can’t see anything outwardly, physically wrong so he guesses that it was nothing serious, though he doesn’t feel like it’s his business to ask. He and Louis are still strangers no matter the urge Harry has to know him.

“This is Harry, Fred, can you say hello?” Louis asks of him. Freddie turns his head further into Louis’ legs, hiding his face as best he can. Harry chuckles fondly. “You’re not shy, don't pretend.” Louis chuckles as well. Louis pokes him in the shoulder and it must tickle because Freddie laughs and squirms away, looking at his dad with so much happy affection. “Say hello to Harry.”

“Hello.” Freddie says quietly to Harry, still smiling but still obviously shy.

“Why did we have to come to hospital?” Louis then asks him. Freddie smiles mischievously. He's absolutely adorable. “What did you put up your nose and it got stuck?”

“An M&M." Freddie says before he starts giggling. Harry can’t help but to laugh along with him.

“And what did the doctor tell Daddy to do to get rid of it?”

“Blow in my mouth.”

Harry barks out a loud laugh. Louis’ face splits into a smile too and for a minute Harry’s heart stops. His smile is gorgeous. It lights up his whole face and makes his eyes crinkle. Harry feels a bit dumbstruck. He remembers thinking about how attractive Louis was when he’d first met him, but he didn't spend much longer thinking about that once he was gone. He was too concentrated on his impending fatherhood. Now however, running into Louis again and talking to him and seeing him interact with his son, Harry is not ashamed to admit he’s seriously attracted to him. Harry’s never really considered what his type is, but Louis is ticking all the boxes.

He and Louis sober, both with lingering smiles on their faces. The lull doesn’t feel awkward though, it feels comfortable and Harry would love to stand and talk longer, but Louis was obviously on his way home and Harry is eager to get back to Bonnie.

“So you have a daughter now?” Louis asks.

“Yes.” Harry says and even he can hear the awe and fondness in his voice. “Her name is Bonnie. She’s beautiful. I was just going to pick her up and take her home when I ran into you.”

“That explains the daydreaming and the eagerness.” Louis teases. Harry feels himself blushing. “I'll let you get back to her, then.”

“Unless, um,” Harry blurts out before he can really think about it, “unless you wanted to come meet her? Or is that weird?” Harry second guesses himself. He and Louis are still strangers and he’d gotten a bit carried away enjoying his company. There’s some kind of magnetic pull drawing him to Louis so he doesn’t want to pull back just yet.

“I’d love to.” Louis agrees easily. “As long as you’re ok with it, I’d love to meet her.”

Harry calms at Louis nonchalant agreement. Perhaps it isn’t so weird for Louis to meet his child. After all, Harry has met Louis’ and really, Harry is super eager to start showing his daughter off to everyone with eyes. They might be strangers, but Harry is wondering how long that’s going to last. He’d love to have Louis as a friend, especially a friend he could get parenting tips off of. Considering this is the second time he’s seen Louis and there’s yet another lack of evidence to support that he’s in a relationship, Harry assumes he’s also a single dad. A friendship with Louis could be great for him. Harry is positive he’ll be able to ignore the attraction he feels (especially if it turns out Louis is straight).

With eager steps, Harry leads Louis and Freddie back to the nursery. Louis swings Freddie up onto his hip so they can move along a bit faster and chats to him about how to act when Harry shows them his baby. Harry finds it all too cute. Louis and Freddie obviously have a close relationship. Harry hopes he and Bonnie will be the same.

Bonnie is right where Harry left her, still sound asleep and swaddled up tightly only now she's in the blanket made for her by Anne, Harry’s mother. Harry still can’t believe she’s his and how beautiful she is. Everything about her is perfect. He introduces her proudly to Louis as he carefully lifts her and cradles her in his arms. Her mouth rhythmically sucks on her dummy for a few seconds before going lax and Harry just wants to coo.

“She looks so much like you, Harry.” Louis says in a soft voice, almost like he’s afraid to wake her. “She’s beautiful.”

“Thank you." Harry replies just as soft.

“You’re a natural as well. You’re going to be really good at this parenting lark, I can tell.”

Harry’s cheeks turn pink. That means a lot to him, but it also not unpleasant to have that compliment come from Louis, who he can also openly admit is beautiful too. Harry keeps finding himself staring into Louis’ eyes. They’re such a gorgeous shade of sky blue that it’s so easy to get lost in them. To provide himself with some sort of distraction, Harry then introduces her to Freddie. Freddie seems shy and hesitant, but Louis assures him it’s ok to touch her as long as he’s gentle so Freddie simply reaches out and strokes her hand where it’s peeking out of the blanket. Harry’s heart melts. He wonders if Louis’ does too.

“Have you had your first family picture yet?” Louis asks. Harry shakes his head. Between her being born and then the nurses whisking her away, there wasn’t really a spare moment for pictures, though Harry would have loved to take some. “How about I take one for you now?” he offers.

After handing off his phone to Louis, Harry rearranges Bonnie in his arms so that she’s properly in the picture. Harry doesn’t have to be encouraged to smile-he doesn’t think the smile has left his face since Bonnie arrived-but he smiles wider for the picture and waits for Louis to take it. Louis lowers the phone once he has, but doesn’t immediately give Harry his phone back. It takes him a couple of seconds and then Louis hands it back with a smile.

“I took a couple of pictures. They’re really sweet,” he says. “I hope you don’t think its weird or presumptuous or anything,” he then continues, “but I put my number in as well. Maybe once you’ve settled into a routine with her we could maybe hang out?”

Harry feels his heart flutter and his stomach flip. “I’d like that.”

“You could also text me, like, if you want any advice or whatever.” Louis’ cheeks look as if they’re darkening with a blush. He seems flustered or embarrassed. Harry can understand the feeling, Louis makes him feel a bit flustered too.

“I think I might just do that.” Harry says, already knowing it’ll just be an excuse to text him. It’s been a long time since Harry has met anybody that’s stolen his interest like Louis has, and not just romantically. Harry can’t remember the last time he made a new friend that wasn’t someone he met because of the surrogacy. He wants to hold onto Louis. A romantic relationship isn’t something he's thinking about right now-no matter how attractive Louis may be-but Harry would definitely love Louis’ friendship. Harry figures if something more is meant to happen between them, it’ll happen naturally and only when the time is right. Fate will work it out. “I guess I’ll see you soon, then, maybe?”

“You will.” Louis nods. “Say bye to Harry, Fred. Its time for us to head home.”

“Bye, Harry,” Freddie says, head leant on his dad’s shoulder. He doesn’t seem as shy now, just tired. “Bye, Baby,” he also says and Harry feels his eyes widen a little in awe.

With an indulgent smile on his face, Louis leans his cheek against his son’s head, obviously proud and endeared.

“Bye, Freddie,” Harry replies. “It was nice to meet you.”

Freddie manages to give him a tiny smile before he turns his face into his dad’s shoulder. Louis chuckles, light and airy and kisses his hair before his eyes find Harry’s again.

“See you, Harry. I hope you enjoy your first night with her and that she gets spoiled by your family.”

“Oh she will.” Harry chuckles. “See you.”

Louis holds Harry’s attention as he retreats-he’s even attractive from the back-but he doesn’t see him leave the nursery because his daughter begins to wiggle in his arms, her thin, little fingers stretching and then she yawns, her dummy falling on to her chest. Harry smiles adoringly at her and replaces her dummy before placing a delicate kiss to her forehead. He sways back and forth a little to settle her again and once she’s sound asleep he looks around for a nurse. He's ready to take his baby home.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

By the time Harry gets home, he’s already exhausted. It took him another half an hour to get out of the hospital because as soon as he managed to get hold of Niall, he insisted on coming inside with the carseat. Once he was inside, however, it quickly turned into gushing over how cute Bonnie was and insisting he got to hold her for a little while (whilst he cried what he dubbed as ‘manly tears’). While Harry was desperate to just take her home and have a quiet couple of hours alone with her before his mum arrived, he couldn’t refuse Niall. Now that he’s home, he’s got an hour before his mum should arrive and all he wants to do is take a quick shower and maybe a nap, but Bonnie is due for another feed and he’d like for her to at least be a little settled before she starts getting passed around his family.

So Harry forgoes his shower and just makes himself a cup of tea instead before making up a bottle for Bonnie. While he waits for the temperature of the bottle to cool, he keeps peering over the kitchen counter so he can see Bonnie in her carseat on the living room coffee table. Now that he's alone, he is starting to feel his nerves creep back in, but he realises it’s just going to take some time to adjust, and if he needs it, he's got a support system that now includes one extra person-a person he's been itching to text since he left the hospital. The thing that’s troubling him though, is that he doesn’t know what to text. He feels like asking for tips when he’s been home for ten minutes makes him seem like he doesn’t have a clue or that he worries too much, but he doesn’t know any of Louis’ interests in order to chat about something random.

Any thoughts of Louis quickly disappear as soon as Bonnie starts to fuss. She’s wriggling in her seat and her little face is scrunching unhappily, so Harry tests the temperature of the milk on the back of his hand. It feels fine to him. He takes it over to the coffee table and gently removes Bonnie and settles her in the crook of his elbow before giving her the bottle. She sucks away, gulping noises escaping every couple of seconds. Harry feels a couple more pieces fall into place. Now that he’s home with her, settled on his couch with the TV providing background noise and doing something as simple as feeding her, he feels his heart swell with pride and accomplishment. He’s proud of himself for doing this. His mum had told him plenty of times that he should be, but it isn’t until now that he sees why.

Harry winds her halfway through (and cleans up a little sick) before giving her the rest of the bottle. She’s just coming to the end when his phone vibrates against the table. Harry’s heartbeat picks up a bit, wondering if it’s Louis, though he only remembers Louis giving him his number, he said nothing about taking Harry’s so he’s not sure if there’s even a chance it could be Louis. Either way, the text will have to wait. There’s only a dribble left in Bonnie’s bottle when the doorbell goes announcing his mother’s arrival and he knows she’s going to fuss not only over Bonnie, but him too, so he won’t have even a second to look at his phone.

Anne, his mother, and Gemma, his sister, arrive in a cloud of perfume with bags of gifts hanging off their arms. They coo and cry and kiss Harry’s cheeks and hug him over and over again in between taking turns with Bonnie. She doesn’t protest much, her eyes only opening for minutes at a time before settling into sleep again, but by the time an hour and a half has passed, Harry is starting to get irritated. He thinks his mum can tell by the way she raises her eyebrows and smirks at him.

“Don’t get jealous, love,” she says. “You’ll have all the time in the world with her when we leave.”

“I’m not.” Harry pouts (he is a tiny bit jealous, but mostly he’s just bone tired, he’s still hoping for that nap at some point).

It’s then that his phone chooses to vibrate again, right in his sister’s eye line. Being the nosy bugger that she is, she picks it up off the table and looks to see who it is.

“Who’s Louis?” Gemma asks before Harry can smack the phone out of her grip. “And why is he sending you pictures of a little boy?”

Harry feels his cheeks heating up and can do nothing to hide it. His mum is currently holding Bonnie so he can’t use the baby as an excuse to exit out of the conversation like he wants to, so instead he just ignores the fact that Gemma spoke, walks over to her and takes the phone out of her hand to look for himself. When he presses the lock button, on his screen are two texts, both of them are from Louis. Harry bites his lip so that he doesn’t smile and give anything away-though his blushing cheeks might already be doing that for him. The first text is a simple:

**_Hope you and Bonnie got home ok. - Louis_ **

The second is a picture message, so Harry unlocks his phone to get a better look. It’s a picture of Freddie. He’s sat on the floor, an empty packet of crispy M&M’s at his feet and chocolate smeared all around his face. He’s the image of mischief and Harry struggles to remain neutral in front of his current company. The message accompanying it reads:

**Good to know this morning’s incident hasn't put him off eating M &M’s**

Harry wants to laugh so badly but he can feel the scrutinising eyes of his sister trained on his every reaction. He tries out his best poker face whilst he types his own message back:

_Kids bounce back fast, you’ll have to find a new way to put him off junk food! Bonnie and I are doing well, thank you. -H_

Then he slides the phone into his pocket and smiles at his sister like the past five minutes didn’t just happen. Gemma narrows her eyes suspiciously, obviously thinking that the look alone will be enough to make Harry cave, but Harry won’t. He wants to keep Louis to himself for a while, even if there’s nothing more than friendship going on (for now, at least, until he knows more about him).

“So, who’s Louis?” Gemma repeats.

Harry ignores her. “I’ll come up sometime during the week, Mum.”

“Hey!” Gemma protests. “I asked you a question..twice!”

Anne chuckles at their childish antics before walking over to Harry and passing his daughter back. “Sounds lovely. Just let me know when.”

“Harry.” Gemma groans. “Tell me who Louis is.”

“Oh hush up, Gemma.” Anne scolds her teasingly. “Leave the boy alone.”

“Thanks, Mummy.” Harry says, fluttering his eyelashes. Anne shakes her head fondly before she gives both him and Bonnie kisses and tells Gemma to get ready to go. Gemma huffs and rolls her eyes but does as she’s told. “Bye, loser.” Harry says to her when she kisses him on the cheek goodbye.

“I’ll get it out of you.” she threatens. “See you both soon.”

For a second, Harry thinks she’s referring to Louis, but he quickly realises she means Bonnie. He nods and lingers in the threshold of his front door until his mum and sister drive away. Then finally, he shuts the door and he’s alone with his daughter. He just has to feed her, change her and then he can finally nap with her just feet away from him.

Everything happens without much fanfare. Harry feeds Bonnie, winds her (she’s sick again, but Harry’s still at that point where he coos at everything she does), changes her which only causes a minor fuss but he loves every single second of it. With Bonnie taken care of, Harry decides to take care of himself a bit. He carries Bonnie upstairs with him and settles her in the Moses basket by his bed (he almost cries because it just looks and feels perfect) before going into the bathroom for a shower-with the door open, he’s still an anxious first time dad after all. The heat from the water is glorious and soothes the tension from his body. The steam makes him feel sleepy, his eyes drooping whilst he just stands under the spray without any energy to even scrub himself properly. By the time he steps out, he’s well and truly ready for sleep and he’s got his fingers crossed that he can have the two or three hours before Bonnie’s next feed. Bonnie has other ideas however, and is making small noises that indicate the onset of a cry- _Harry’s learnt that warning already_ -so he quickly pulls on some boxers before picking her up and settling her against his chest. He sways slightly from side to side but she doesn’t seem to want to settle yet so he racks his brains for another idea. It quickly comes to him in the form of a song, so quietly he sings to her;

_My bonnie lies over the ocean,_  
My bonnie lies over the sea,  
My bonnie lies over the ocean,  
Oh bring back my bonnie to me… 

At the sound of his quiet singing, Bonnie quiets, her head settling into the crook of his neck and the little fingers stop wiggling. Her breathing evens out and she’s asleep again, but Harry can’t bring himself to put her down just yet. He’s enjoying the weight of her in his arms, her soft baby smell floating up his nose and her warmth against his chest. 

Looking across the room, Harry sees his phone on his bedside table, and for some reason he’s compelled to take a picture. Before he can think too hard about it, he’s taking a selfie of the two of them with the caption ‘Home sweet home,' and he’s sent it off to as many people he can think off. Each reply he gets is a variant of the verbal equivalent of the heart eyes emoji (and in Niall’s case, it is the actual heart eyes emoji). When Harry settles himself in his bed, back against the headboard, his phone vibrates one last time. Louis’ name is attached to it and Harry bites his lip to contain the smile that is already threatening.

**_Beautiful._** is all it says. Harry doesn’t know whether he’s talking about Bonnie or the both of them.

Harry knows which option he’s hoping for. His smile and his blush says it all.

** II - A GOOD JOB **

“Look at that blissed out face.” Harry chuckles as he gently shampoos Bonnie’s hair. Her eyes are closed, eyelashes softly fluttering and her mouth is open. She looks completely relaxed just as she has every other time that Harry has bathed her. Harry guesses she’s going to have an affinity with nudity just like him. He also reckons she’s going to milk being a pampered princess whenever she can get away with it. She already has Harry wrapped around _every_ finger, never mind just her little one, and she’s only barely two weeks old. “You love having your head rubbed don’t you, petal?”

Harry’s first two weeks as a dad haven’t been easy. There’s been times when he’s been so tired he’s cried and times when he really thought he couldn’t do it. His mum has been wonderful though, checking in on him periodically to make sure he’s still eating right and getting enough rest and that he’s taking time to himself, even if that means his mum taking care of her for a couple of hours downstairs while he binge watches a show in his bedroom on Netflix. Harry’s not at the stage yet where he’s comfortable leaving her completely, he thinks that will take some time, and his mum and his friends don’t push him, which he greatly appreciates. 

Louis has also been a massive help. They haven’t done much except texting, but Harry’s thankful that he has someone to vent to when it feels like he’s getting overwhelmed. Telling Louis makes him feel like he isn’t disappointing anyone (though if he told his mum that she’d give him a serious talking to), and it makes him feel like its normal since Louis tells him it’s ok because he remembers feeling the same way. He’s been shockingly candid with Louis and he finds it more comforting than disconcerting. Harry can’t wait to take Louis up on his offer of lunch some time in the near future because the man deserves a hug and possibly a nice present in gratitude for the support he’s provided Harry with so far.

But by far, Harry’s favourite part of his routine with Bonnie is bath time. He feels like they bond more than ever during that short fifteen minutes than any other time of the day. Harry likes how snuggly she is afterwards, either holding his finger or the shirt he’s wearing in her tiny first as she sleeps. He’d guess that eighty per cent of the pictures he has of Bonnie on his phone are during and after bath time, and not just because she looks super cute when she’s bundled up the hooded duck towel Niall bought for her.

After Harry has wiped her eyes clean and washed in between all the creases of her skin, he lifts her carefully out of the bath and wraps her in her towel. He sings to her as he dries her and gently massages moisturiser into her delicate skin. For a few seconds, she opens her eyes and peers around her new surroundings on Harry’s bed before her eyes settle on Harry.

“Hello, beautiful girl,” he coos at her, bringing his face level with hers. “You’re all lovely and clean and ready for bed now.”

Bonnie’s lips begin to imitate sucking on a bottle, her legs start kicking and her hands start grappling. Harry kisses her on the nose and then just above her belly button, knowing that thats her signal for ‘please get me a bottle, Daddy, I’m hungry,’ and gets her dressed as quickly as her wiggling will allow. He’s got this down to an art now, so before long, she’s happily sucking on the teat of a warm bottle of formula and her eyes are drooping with the onset of sleep and fingers loosely gripping the little finger of the hand Harry’s feeding her with.

Harry is winding her when his phone begins to ring, so he switches to holding her against his shoulder so that he can continue rubbing her back with one hand and answers his phone with the other.

“Hel-“ Bonnie interrupts with a burp and Harry laughs, “Pardon you.” He then tries again, “Hello?”

“Hi, mate,” Niall greets him, “how's it going?”

“Everything is good. I’m just getting Bonnie ready for bed.”

“Sorry, bro, do you need me to give you, like, twenty minutes and I’ll call you back?”

Harry smiles at Niall’s consideration. Its at that exact moment that Bonnie chooses to be sick once again. Harry feels it warm on the back of his shoulder and scrunches his nose a little, but by now, it’s something he’s used to. It happens during every feed.

“I was going to say its fine, but Bonnie’s just been sick, so give me five minutes to sort her out and I’ll be with you.”

“No problem, speak to you in a minute.”

Whilst he cleans Bonnie up and takes off his shirt before getting her settled with the rest of her bottle, he makes a note to call his mum after he’s done with Niall. He’s not majorly concerned about the fact she’s being sick during every feed, but he’d like a little bit of reassurance that it's nothing to worry about.

“Sorry, Niall, I’m done now,” Harry got the phone on loudspeaker this time just in case it happens again.

“Don’t apologise, mate, is she alright?”

“She’s fine. I’m going to phone Mum after this to see if I need to do anything because she’s sick every time I feed her, but otherwise she’s fine. Everything alright with you?”

Since Bonnie has arrived, Harry hasn’t had much time or-though he feels a little guilty to admit it-motivation to catch up with Niall. They’ve texted sporadically, mostly Niall asking for updates and Harry sending him pictures, but they haven’t had a proper chat or hung out. Now that Harry thinks about it, this is probably the longest he and Niall have gone without seeing each other since they met in university.

“Everything’s good. I was just wondering if you’d be up for a visit on Friday? And maybe for coming out for a few hours on Saturday with the lads? We want to celebrate your little bundle of joy but we don't want to do it without you.”

“Friday is fine, I’d love to see you and I’m sure Bonnie would too. But, uh," Harry hesitates. He feels like it’s still too soon for him to leave Bonnie with someone else without him being there. “Maybe we can hold off on going out for a couple more weeks? It’s still new, you know? I’m not too sure about leaving her yet.”

“That’s completely understandable, I just figured I’d open the invite up to you. I don’t want you to feel like we’ve forgotten about you now that you’re a dad.”

Harry’s heart warms. He truly appreciates his best friend more than words can express. He’s never met anyone quite like Niall. At first glance, he’s an overzealous, loud Irishman who makes jokes at every opportunity, but underneath that he’s the most caring and kind hearted person Harry knows. He’s loyal to a fault and Harry really doesn’t know where he’d be if he’d never met Niall.

They don’t chat for much longer, Harry’s conscious of the fact he still needs to call his mum and catch a bit of sleep before Bonnie is due for another feed. But he promises to see Niall on Friday night and ends the call feeling less guilty about his lack of social upkeep. Once Bonnie is swaddled and settled in her Moses basket next to Harry’s bed, Harry rings his mum’s number. He’s got his fingers crossed that she’ll answer. She’s been a bit more diligent about answering her phone since Bonnie was born, but Harry isn’t surprised when it goes to voicemail. Harry pinches his lower lip between his thumb and finger whilst he contemplates calling her again, but then another idea pops into his mind and he clenches his toes in the duvet while he finds the number he’s thinking of.

During the time it’s ringing, Harry considers ending the call approximately ten times. He’s got a knot of nerves inside is stomach the size of a tennis ball and he’s pulling at his own leg hairs to distract himself.

“Hello?” The light voice comes as a surprise and Harry tugs a little too hard on one of his hairs resulting in a little yelp escaping him. “Harry?” And now the voice sounds amused and Harry’s embarrassment makes his cheeks turn warm.

“Uh hi, Louis,” Harry stutters. “Sorry to call so late.”

“That’s alright,” Louis replies. “What’s up?”

Suddenly Harry feels silly for calling. Bonnie being sick is probably nothing and if he’s really that concerned he should just ask the paediatrician that he has to check in with to make sure Bonnie is meeting all her milestones. 

“Do you know what,” Harry begins, “its fine, I was just being silly. It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry for-“

“No, whoah, wait,” Louis interrupts. “What’s wrong? Is it something with Bonnie?” At the mention of her name, Harry looks over at his daughter. She’s still sleeping soundly. “Harry?”

“Nothing’s really wrong,” Harry explains. “I’m just looking for a bit of advice, or like, reassurance about something.”

“Ok, shoot.” So Harry explains what’s been happening and Louis hums every now and again as he listens to Harry ramble. “It sounds like reflux.” Louis says when Harry is finished. “I think that’s what it’s called.”

“Is it normal?” Harry asks.

“I think every baby has some form of reflux, but if it’s something you’re worried about, there’s nothing wrong with going to the doctor. I’ll come with you if that’ll make you feel better.”

Harry stares at his toes as he rubs one foot over the other. “Would you?” 

“Of course.” Louis tells him, chuckling lightly. “You make the appointment and then just let me know, ok?”

“Ok, yeah.” Harry agrees, nodding. “Thank you, Louis.”

“Anytime.”

Harry feels his stomach fill with butterflies and an almost boyish smile cross his face. Louis may as well have flirted with him considering the way Harry’s reacting. What Harry likes is how simple Louis makes it sound, like he doesn’t even have to think about anything, he’ll just be there for Harry if he needs him even if their friendship is still new. That says and means more to Harry than Louis outright saying he finds Harry attractive (if he were to ever say that obviously, Harry has still yet to determine if Louis bats for his team, but he hopes he will and he hopes he’ll like the outcome).

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

Sitting in the doctors with his daughter in the carseat, Harry feels about ready to crawl out of his own skin. He feels like every pair of eyes in the room is judging him, sectioning him off into a box based on prejudice about dads. But he knows they’re not. Yes, people looked up at him when he entered the waiting room, but that is just natural human curiosity. He’s being paranoid, and he thinks it has a lot to do with he fact he’s waiting for Louis. Harry recently found out that Louis is a drama teacher, so Harry scheduled the appointment to coincide with Louis’ lunch break. He’s going to come straight from the school, sit in on the appointment with Harry and then go back to teach his last lessons of the day. Harry almost told Louis not to worry about coming because he felt guilty about taking up Louis’ lunch hour, but Louis insisted that it was fine. Nevertheless, Harry has bought him something to eat from a small cafe down the street.

Bonnie is having a rare moment awake. Her big blue eyes are exploring what she can see around her, but they ultimately settle on Harry.

“Hello, gorgeous girl,” he greets her.

He can see that her feet are moving beneath the blanket and they slowly begin to dislodge it from around her shoulders allowing her to get her scratch mitt covered hands out. Harry is just reaching down to readjust the blanket when a familiar voice says, “Hiya,” and the owner of the voice sits down in the empty seat next to Harry.

The first thing Harry sees are shiny, lace up leather shoes, followed by bare ankles. Harry swallows, his mouth suddenly feeling a little dry. Harry allows his eyes to travel up black cigarette trouser covered legs (he tries not to think about they’re lovely toned shape too much), a white shirt and simple skinny black tie covered chest, all the way up to Louis’ blue, blue eyes. He actively has to clench his jaw to stop it from dropping. His palms are beginning to sweat just looking at Louis’ face.

“Hi,” Harry replies, breathless.

Harry must be completely obvious in his admiration of Louis because Louis smirks, and it does nothing to halt the chaos in Harry’s brain. 

“Oh, look at this little beauty,” Louis then says, leaning forwards to get a better look at Bonnie. “Aren’t you a pretty little girl?”

Louis reaches out a finger and caresses Bonnie’s cheek with the back of it. His mouth is split into a bright smile, one that crinkles his eyes. All Harry can think is; can this man get anymore attractive to me?

“I brought you lunch.” Harry blurts in an effort to try and regain his cool. It doesn’t work, because then Louis is looking at him in what Harry takes to be fondness, and Harry isn’t sure how much he can take.

“That was kind of you, thank you. You really didn’t have to.”

There’s no way on Earth that Louis doesn’t see the blush Harry is wearing as he hands over the ham and cheese toastie and bottle of water he bought, but thankfully, Louis doesn't mention it. He just smiles gratefully and places them in the messenger bag he brought with him. Harry gets caught up admiring Louis’ hands. They’re nicely sized and he has long, thin fingers. His fingers are free of rings, unlike Harry’s-he has one on almost every finger-but Harry thinks Louis would suit something small…

“Harry?” Louis’ voice interrupts his pondering. “Bonnie’s name just showed up. Room twelve.”

“Oh, thank you.” Harry stands and picks up Bonnie’s carseat. He hesitates before he walks towards the hallway. “Are you coming?” he asks Louis.

Louis’ eyebrows shoot up and he fish mouths for a second. Harry finds it cuter than he should. 

“Uh, sure,” Louis voice sounds surprised. “I’m right behind you.”

When they leave the appointment after just fifteen minutes, Harry has blushed so many times he’s sure his cheeks are a permanent pink colour. Firstly, Louis had squeezed his wrist in reassurance when they’d entered the doctor’s room, then the doctor had asked if they were a couple and Harry had floundered while Louis answered the question as cool as a cucumber. Lastly, and the reason Harry is _still_ blushing, is when the doctor had confirmed Bonnie is just suffering from reflux, Louis covered the hand Harry had rested on his knee with his own and squeezed before winking at him. The only thing that stopped him melting right off his seat was that he had Bonnie in his arms.

“Don’t forget to pick up that new formula on your way home, then.” Louis reminds them as they arrive at Harry’s car.

“I won’t,” Harry promises. “Thank you for coming, Louis.” In a moment of bravery, Harry swoops in to give Louis a swift kiss on the cheek.

“You’re welcome,” Louis replies, his voice taking on an almost dream like quality. If Harry’s not mistaken, there’s a tint of pink high on Louis’ sharp cheekbones. Harry can’t remember the last time he made someone blush. He feels rather proud of himself. “I’ll see you soon?”

“Definitely,” Harry agrees and he already can’t wait.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

Wailing is what startles Harry from sleep. He moves on autopilot, sitting up and reaching over to the Moses basket. Bonnie’s dummy has fallen from her mouth and is lying next to her head, so the first thing Harry tries is putting it back in. He holds it in her mouth whilst he waits for her to get some purchase on it and his eyes start drooping again, begging for him to go back to sleep. His head is lolling on his neck when he hears small noises come from Bonnie again. This time he reaches for her properly and picks her up. As Harry places her over his shoulder and rubs her back in the hopes of settling her a bit more, he catches sight of the time. It’s just past two am and she’ll be due for a feed in another hour. Usually, Harry would stay awake and wait, but he’s so tired he knows he’ll be fighting a losing battle. So Harry stays sitting up and lets his eyes close as he keeps rubbing Bonnie’s back. He can’t have been out for more than five minutes when his phone vibrates. He reaches for it blindly and unlocks it with his thumbprint while he peels his eyes open again.

**_Can’t sleep :( how’s things with you? If you’re awake?_**

It’s from Louis. Instantly, Harry is more alert. 

_I’ll read you and Bonnie a bed time story. She’s having a fussy night, not much sleep for me either._

In Harry’s sleep deprived brain, he considers asking Louis to come over for a cuddle. He wonders if Louis’ hugs are warm and if he’d wrap Harry up tightly and let him bury his head in the crook of his neck and shoulder. Harry’s always liked being the smaller one in the relationship despite his usually larger size.

**_Aww no :(_** Louis texts. **_You must be knackered._**

_I am. And in need of a cuddle too._

Hinting is all Harry will allow himself. That way he leaves the ball in Louis’ court. Harry still hasn’t quite worked up the courage to ask Louis if he’s anything other than straight, but he’s pretty sure Louis has figured out that Harry’s gay due to Bonnie’s lack of mother and the obvious (sometimes embarrassing) flirting Harry tries his hand at.

**_If I was there I’d give you both one. Maybe I’d even sing to you too if you’re lucky ;)_ **

Harry’s heart leaps, his stomach flip flops, his palms sweat and his cheeks heat. He feels like a teenager with his first crush all over again, though he hopes the ending to this one turns out slightly more successfully than that one did (Harry had finally managed to snog the boy he’d fancied for ages against a tree and only then did the boy decided that he wasn’t really that into kissing boys after all).

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

“Louis, what are you doing?” Harry chuckles. Some time shortly after arriving in Toys ‘R’ Us, Louis had quickly disappeared with Freddie in tow. Harry had his back turned while he looked at mats he could use for Tummy Time with Bonnie when he heard Louis return. Now that he’s turned around, he can see Louis is using Freddie, who he has perched on his hip, to sneak a bunny soother blanket into her pram. When Louis just smiles mischievously, Freddie giggling away just as mischievously, Harry rolls his eyes and shakes his head before carrying on with what he was doing. He’s so unbearably fond of Louis-and Freddie too-at this point that he’d probably let him get away with murder. “Menace,” he says under his breath.

Their friendship has developed tentatively. Sometimes it skirts the boundaries of friendship, or at least Harry feels like it does. They tease each other mercilessly, chatting every day over text, and now it’s not always about parenting. Sometimes, Harry is on his own while his mum watches Bonnie downstairs and instead of taking the time to nap like he should, he texts Louis stupid jokes he comes across on Twitter or he’ll call him just to hear someone else’s voice aside from is own. Louis loves to chat about the kids he teaches and how much their confidence is growing. Harry just loves to listen to the genuine excitement in his voice.

Bonnie is now coming up to six weeks old and he and Louis have hung out a handful of times, never for very long, but Harry enjoys the opportunity for a bit of fresh air and a change of scenery. Harry’s crush on Louis also grows ever stronger each day. It’s getting to the point now where it’s hard to ignore. Watching Louis interact with Bonnie never helps the situation either. He’s so good with her and even Freddie is starting to interact with her more and more, now well and truly over his shyness.

“Aw, look Fred, she likes it.” Louis says, helping Freddie to better peer in on Bonnie. She’s got her head turned towards the new toy, almost like she’d rubbed her nose against it before settling again. “Good job choosing, matey.” Louis holds his hand up waiting for a high five, and Freddie does smack his hand against his father’s, a beaming smile the exact replica of Louis’ on his face.

“I bet it’ll be her favourite.” Harry chimes in. Freddie whips his head around to look at Harry. “She’ll take it everywhere with her.”

“Like George?” Freddie asks, referring to his favourite dinosaur soft toy who is currently poking out of the Paw Patrol backpack Louis carries around.

“Exactly like George.”

“Down, please, Daddy.” Freddie then requests whilst trying to wriggle free of Louis’ arms.

“Don’t go too far, please. Stay where I can see you.” Louis requests and with a nod in agreement, Freddie toddles off somewhere. “Have you found what you were looking for?” he then asks Harry.

Harry’s spent the last ten minutes looking between two play mats. Harry thinks Bonnie is still a bit young for either one of them, Tummy Time has mostly been spent on Harry’s chest thus far, but Harry wants to be prepared, and there’s also a sale on which might have influenced the timing a little.

“Shall I get this one?” Harry asks, pointing to a pink play mat that has a gym over the top and a little piano for her to kick at the end if he were to lie her on her back.

Louis comes closer, and as he does, he slides his hand along Harry’s waist until it settles on his lower back. Tingles begin shooting out from the point of contact and Harry can feel heat starting to spread on his cheeks as butterflies take flight in his belly. Testing the waters, Harry sways closer to Louis’ body, their hips almost bumping.

“That one’s nice,” Louis nods. “That’ll last her for ages as well. You should get it.”

As Louis has been talking, he’s been rubbing his thumb back and forth against Harry’s back. Harry doesn’t know if Louis’ realised he’s doing it, but that simple gesture is making Harry’s knees feel a bit weak. It speaks of familiarity and comfort, the kind a couple would usually share and Harry likes it far too much considering they haven’t even hinted at the subject of dating. That said, Harry still can’t ignore the urge he’s suddenly getting to kiss Louis. His lips just look so inviting at this moment, red from his constant biting of them. If Harry was a more confident person, he’d just grab Louis by the lapels of his jacket and close the distance between them. However, Harry is not that confident, not only in himself, but also about Louis’ sexuality. There’s been a few things that would hint at him possibly being gay-their current position for instance-but Harry doesn’t have enough evidence to be certain and he doesn’t want to make a fool of himself.

But then Louis looks up at him, or more specifically his lips and Harry’s heart pounds. He swears Louis is leaning closer.

“Harry?” a tiny voice interrupts them. Freddie has returned from his little adventure and is holding something in his hand. Harry would mourn the loss of what could have been, but then Freddie offers up what he is holding. “A story for Bonnie. It’s Peppa Pig.”

Harry takes the story book from his hand, awestruck. “Thank you so much, Freddie. That’s really thoughtful.”

Freddie is suddenly overcome with shyness and reaches his hands out in a request for Louis to pick him up. Louis does so with a smile so fond he looks as if he’s about to cry. Harry kind of feels the same. He’s filled with so many warm and fuzzy feelings at the moment that he doesn’t really know what to do with himself.

“Do you want to go out for dinner after this?” Harry blurts, a little overcome.

As soon as the last word has rolled off his tongue, he second guesses himself. He nervously itches his nose and looks anywhere but at Louis.

“What do you think, Fred? You hungry?”

“Burger!” Freddie cheers.

“I think we can get you a burger.” Harry chuckles.

After Harry has made his purchases, they end up in a McDonalds. Freddie is in his element with his Happy Meal and is making both Harry and Louis laugh when he keeps dipping his burger in ketchup just to suck the ketchup off and dip it in again. Louis has set his own food out exactly the same way as he does Freddie’s which makes Harry want to pinch his cheeks and snog him silly all at the same time. Louis is a walking contradiction. He can be so mature yet the child inside him is always alive, he’s devastatingly handsome but there’s little things that he does, like giggle or flick his hair or smile his crinkly smile that just make him so cute.

Louis has just finished wiping Freddie’s mouth when his phone begins to vibrate on the table. He looks over the name and answers it quickly, holding up his finger in the universal signal for ‘one-second’ as he gets up from the table and walks a few feet away. He isn’t on the phone for long, and he doesn’t seem to do much talking, but Harry’s curious. Louis has answered calls from his mum or sisters in front of Harry before now, so Harry is wondering why Louis has to take this person’s call a bit more privately.

Harry’s stomach drops when he realises he might have been reading all the signals wrong. Harry never entertained the idea Louis was in a relationship with another man, instead he jumped straight to the conclusion that Louis was with a woman or single-which, when Harry thinks about it is quite silly of him considering he is also gay. Perhaps this is Freddie’s other dad and Louis is just a tactile friend, a bit like Harry himself.

When he returns to the table, Louis’ smile is a little strained and almost like he wants to cover his change in mood, he shoves a chip in his mouth.

“Everything alright?” Harry asks.

Louis hums as he continues chewing his chip. Once he’s swallowed he clears his throat before he speaks. “That was Freddie’s other dad.” Harry loses his appetite but he tries not to show it on his face, instead he stares at the bottom of the bottle he’s feeding Bonnie with. “He was just reminding me to give him his medicine before bedtime.”

“Medicine?” Harry’s voice is a little a tight. He doesn’t think he’d have been able to get many more words out other than that.

“He had an ear infection earlier in the week. Seems to have cleared up quite a bit but Andy is a worrier.”

Having a name for the man in Louis’ life doesn’t make Harry feel any better. In fact, Harry is beginning to feel a little uncomfortable and his heart hurts a little from the disappointment he feels. Harry also feels like there’s more to the conversation Louis had with Andy but Harry can’t find it in him to ask. Thankfully, Louis also seems to want to move on from that area of conversation so he starts asking about Harry’s favourite films. They’ve managed to get into a pretty heartfelt debate about Grease vs Dirty Dancing by the time Freddie finishes eating his meal.

“To be fair, though,” Louis says by way of ending the debate as he begins to clean up the table, “they’re both great, iconic movies.”

“Which both also translate well on stage.”

Louis smiles wide, his eyes lighting up. “Exactly.”

Despite the earlier revelation of Louis being in a relationship, Harry still isn’t ready to give up the pleasure of his company. Usually this would be the time of day he’d phone his mum up and ask her to come round to watch Bonnie so he can have some time to nap or just relax in the bath, but today he wants to power through even with tiredness licking at the edges of his brain. The masochistic part of him also wants to dig for more information about Louis’ relationship. They must be pretty serious for them to have a child together. Harry is slightly envious.

“Do you want to come back to mine for a bit?” Harry asks hesitantly.

Louis looks surprised at the question. It’s not something they’ve done before. Usually they’ve hung out in public, either at a cafe or walking round the park. Harry probably shouldn’t have asked considering what he’s just found out, but he and Louis are friends and friends go to each other’s houses all the time. Its fine, normal even, and it would be nice to have someone else in his house other than Niall or his mum.

“Uh, sure?”

“You don’t have to if you have plans or something.” Harry quickly backtracks. Louis’ answer sounded uncertain and really Harry knew he shouldn’t have asked. “Its fine.”

“No, no,” Louis stops him. “I was just surprised, that’s all. Are you sure you’re ok with having me and Fred around? It won’t interrupt your routine with Bonnie?”

Harry smiles at that, his uncertainty eased. Louis is so considerate.

“I wouldn’t have invited you if I was unsure. I promise its fine. Do you need to let anyone know, or…?” Harry asks carefully, wary of bringing Andy up again.

“No, we’re good.” Louis replies easily. “Let’s go.”

Whilst Louis follows behind Harry in his own car, Harry’s got time to overthink absolutely every decision and move he’s made and that Louis’ made too. He actually feels like he’s losing his mind a little bit.

“I’m not going to be a home-wrecker,” he tells Bonnie (she’s fast asleep in her carseat and absolutely not listening but Harry needs to get this out before he explodes). “I like Louis a lot, but I respect the fact that he’s in a relationship and I don’t want to come between them. And let’s be honest, I’m not really in the best place to get into a relationship even if he was single. I’ve got you, haven’t I, petal? You need all my attention right now.” Harry inhales and exhales deeply and runs one hand through the front of his hair. “I just need to play it cool, right? It shouldn’t matter that I know about Andy now because I just wanted to be Louis’ friend in the first place. Its just an added bonus that he’s nice to look at.” At the next set of lights, Harry casts his eyes back to his daughter, she’s smiling in her sleep. Rationally, Harry knows she’s either passing gas or pooping, but in his frazzled and over anxious mind, he takes it as agreement. “Ok,” he blows out another breath. “Ok, we’re good.”

They pull up outside Harry’s house, Harry’s nerves kicking in once more. Harry makes quick work of taking Bonnie out of her seat and letting Louis and Freddie in. He also quickly tries to think about the state he left his house in this morning but the only mess he sees is thankfully just some dishes in the sink. Louis doesn’t seem to care anyway, he leads Freddie into the living room and asks him to sit on the couch.

“Will he want anything to drink?” Harry asks. “I think I have some squash?”

“That would be great, thanks,” Louis nods.

Harry gets to work making a drink up for Freddie and Louis and himself a cup of tea. A yawn takes hold of him, his eyes watering from the force. He hears Louis chuckle from his position leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Tired?” he asks.

“Honestly? I’m knackered.” Harry smirks.

“Why don’t you take a nap? Me and Fred can entertain ourselves for a bit and I’ll watch Bonnie.”

Before Louis has even finished talking, Harry is shaking his head. “No, I’m fine, honestly. I couldn’t ask that of you.”

“You’re not,” Louis interrupts. “I’m offering. I know how hard it is taking care of a newborn, Harry. And I know it must be harder for you being a single dad. If you need a nap, you need a nap. I’m happy to take care of her. I’m not in any rush to be anywhere. I really don’t mind.”

“You wouldn’t think I’m a bad host, inviting you round and then leaving you to look after my child while I sleep?”

“No,” Louis shrugs. “If you’re anything like I was, you’ll start getting irritable the more tired you are. I’m sure you’ll enjoy company more if you feel a bit more human.”

Harry sighs. He isn’t wrong. Harry’s caught himself snapping at his mum a few times when he hasn’t had enough sleep. He’s lucky that she’s understanding and knows the reasoning behind it. The thought of leaving Louis with his baby after inviting him round makes him feel a bit guilty, but Louis is offering and the ofter is too good to resist. If he wants to ask about Louis’ relationship, he’s going to need to be in a better headspace and sleep will give him that. With that thought, Harry relents and accepts Louis’ offer. He quickly shows Louis where everything he might need is, kisses Bonnie on the forehead and then traipses up the stairs. He flops face first on his bed and doesn’t even manage to toe his shoes off before sleep takes him.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

When Harry wakes up, he feels refreshed. He had a proper dead to the world sleep even if it was only just over an hour long. His mind woke him up knowing Bonnie is due for a feed, and probably also some residual guilt from lumping Louis with her. He decides to change his clothes into something comfier now that he’s in for the night before going downstairs. 

“Oh, I think I hear your daddy,” Louis sing songs before he looks over his shoulder. His bright blue eyes lock onto Harry’s green ones and he smiles softly, so softly that Harry feels warm and fuzzy. 

“She awake?” Harry asks.

“Mhm. Just woke up, didn’t you, little love?”

Harry smiles as he leans over the back of the couch, Louis’ got Bonnie balanced on his forearms, her bum sitting in the crook of his elbows and head supported in his hands. Her legs are happily dancing and her big blue eyes are exploring.

“Hi, petal.” Harry coos at her. Bonnie’s eyes instantly snap to him at the sound of his voice. “I think someone is ready for their bottle and then tub time, aren’t they?” He gently taps the tip of her nose and then offers her his finger. She grabs onto it and he wiggles it around before tapping her on the nose again. He does it twice more and then he notices the corners of her lips turning up and her mouth opening in a little smile. Her _first_ smile. Harry’s heart leaps and his eyes burn. “Oh look at that lovely smile.”

“She’s got dimples like you.” Louis chuckles. He turns to look at Harry and Harry’s eyes must be red-rimmed, giving away the fact he’s on the verge of tears. “Are you ok?”

“That was her first smile.” Harry explains. “And it’s a beautiful one,” he says reaching for his daughter. Louis hands her over easily and Harry lifts her so their faces are level before rubbing their noses together in an eskimo kiss. “I love you, gorgeous girl.” Bonnie smiles again, her little legs kicking and Harry can’t hold it in. He smiles joyfully and a couple of tears escape and run down his cheeks. “Let’s get you a bottle before you make Daddy cry even more.”

Harry disappears into the kitchen to make up a bottle and pull himself together. His cheeks are a little warm with embarrassment for being so emotional in front of Louis, but he couldn’t help how happy it made him to see his daughter smile. He figures he’s going to be like this over all of her major firsts.

“You’re so good with her.”

Startling a little, Harry looks up and sees Louis has followed him and is now leaning on the counter smiling at him with something that almost looks like indulgence.

“Thank you.” Harry replies as he shakes Bonnie's bottle. “Is Freddie alright?”

“He passed out watching Paw Patrol.” Louis tells him fondly. “He’ll be out for probably another hour or so, I think.” 

Louis goes quiet for a second but Harry can feel his eyes on him, almost assessing. Sure enough, when Harry looks up, Louis’ expression is pensive. Harry smiles confusedly. “What?” he asks.

“What made you decide you wanted to do it on your own? Be a dad, I mean?”

Harry takes in a deep breath. He hadn’t expected the question, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to answer. Louis was the perfect person to be honest and open with because Louis was nonjudgmental. When he looks at Louis all he sees is innocent curiosity.

“I just felt ready.” Harry tells him. “I’ve always wanted kids. I love babies and I love being involved with raising them. I’m always the first person to offer to baby sit even if they aren’t out of nappies yet. I feel like being around children is rewarding, you know?”

“I do.” Louis agreed. “Having Freddie and raising him has been the most rewarding experience of my life.”

For a minute, Harry collects his thoughts. The next part is always hard for him to talk about. He looks down at his daughter feeding away without a care in the world and knows he’d have gone through what he did a million times over just to have her in his life. She was worth every second that had built up to her arrival, good or bad.

“I haven’t been in many relationships.” Harry sighs. “I don’t do casual either, it’s not my style.” Louis nods for him to continue. He looks intrigued. “The last person I was with, I was with him during my last two years at uni. We literally talked about everything with each other, including the future. We talked about kids and marriage and I was under the impression he wanted that with me.” 

Harry looks up at Louis to gauge his reaction. It’s the first time he’s outright confirmed he’s gay and a twisted part of him wants it to affect Louis in some way. All he sees though is a tiny curl of Louis’ lips. The smile looks more encouraging than anything else.

“It wasn’t until we finished uni and I asked him if we were getting our own place together that I figured out how wrong I was.” Harry continues.

“He got scared?” Louis asks in a tone that implies he knows exactly what it feels like to have someone you figured you’d spend your life with suddenly throw a wrench in your plans.

“Yes.” Harry replies, rolling his eyes before he puts Bonnie’s bottle down and places her over his shoulder to wind her. “He told me I was too intense, that I was too busy thinking about the future I wanted and not thinking about what he might want too. I guess I didn’t realise that asking someone to move in was basically a marriage proposal.”

Louis snorts. “Well, his loss, then.” Harry smiles at that. “So, you decided you were tired of waiting for kids when you knew it was something you wanted, then?”

“Love will find me when it’s supposed to. I have a good job, a nice house and I love kids.” Harry shrugs. “It just felt like the right time.”

“I admire that.” Bonnie burps loudly in the silence and both of them laugh. “You’re doing a great job, Harry.”

“So are you.” Harry replies. “Freddie is a great kid. You and your boyfriend have done a really good job with him.”

Louis’ face contorts into an expression of confusion. His eyebrows are skewed with a small furrow between them and his mouth is caught somewhere between a smile and a smirk. Harry hates to admit that even that expression looks good on him. He has the sudden urge to take his finger and smooth out the creases before kissing him. He suppresses it.

“Andy and I aren’t together.”

The statement shocks him, so much so that his jaw manages to drop a little. Inside, his brain is singing in joy and his heart is leaping. He’s never been so glad to read a situation wrong.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed…”

“Its fine.” Louis dismisses. “We haven’t been together for about eight months-ish, I think?” Harry’s still at a little of a loss for words at the new revelation. He doesn’t want to seem too happy about it because that would be insensitive. But he doesn’t really know what reaction is appropriate. He aims for casual as he nods and rearranges Bonnie in his arms. “We have shared custody of Freddie. I get him Friday night to Monday morning and Andy has him the rest of the time.”

“Stop me if I offend you or sound stupid or whatever, but,” Harry begins tentatively, “Freddie is yours biologically, right?” Louis nods. “So why don’t you have full custody?”

“Andy and I proposed our own custody agreement. The break up was reasonably civil and he’s been in Freddie’s life from birth. Plus, with my job I couldn’t really be there for him during the day. Andy works from home now.”

Harry nods. Louis’ statement about his ‘reasonably civil’ break up has piqued Harry’s interest but Harry decides he’s already digging enough for tonight. But he does have one last question. Not brave enough to look Louis in the eyes as he asks, Harry looks at Bonnie instead. She’s dozed off and looks adorable. “And does he call Andy, Dad?”

Louis chuckles and to Harry’s relief, it doesn’t sound like he’s offended. “Much to Andy’s annoyance, he doesn’t. He calls him Andy because I do. When he was learning to talk he did a few times, but now, it’s always Andy.”

It doesn’t make much sense to Harry, after all Freddie seems to spend more time with Andy, but Harry doesn’t ask any more questions. There’s an ounce or two left in Bonnie’s bottle, but she seems settled.

“Do you want to watch some telly for a bit?”

“Something that isn’t Baby TV maybe?”

Harry groans. “Sounds so perfect.”

“Come on, then. We might have an hour.”

Harry doesn’t hesitate to follow.

** III - now is good **

“You need to go out and be social, H.”

“Gem.” Harry groans. He’s just had this exact same conversation not twenty minutes prior with his mother. He understands that they want him to still be young and relax a little, but Harry is truly enjoying his responsibilities as a dad, plus, he’s still not one hundred percent about leaving Bonnie with someone whilst he’s not there. “Please don't start on this.”

“I don’t understand why you won’t try.” Gemma whines. “Nothing will happen to Bonnie. Mum is quite capable of looking after her.”

“I know that.” Harry sighs. It’s not at all that Harry doesn’t trust that his mum can look after her, or anyone close to him for that matter, it’s the fact that he would be missing out on time with her. He’s scared of missing something important. “I’m just not ready yet.”

“Harry,” she says, it sounds stern, like if she were in front of him she would be levelling him with a deadpan look, or perhaps even rolling her eyes, “I know Niall has been asking you to go out with him for weeks. Please go with him this weekend, see your friends, brag about your daughter. That’s what normal people do.” Her tone has turned teasing and the corners of Harry’s lips turn up in a smirk. “Bonnie is two months old. You haven’t been out without being in Dad Mode the entire time.”

She’s right. Harry knows she is, and now that he thinks about it, there’s nothing really stopping him except his irrational fear of missing out. Realistically, that’s something he’s going to have to get over at some point anyway, especially when he goes back to work. Harry uses the toe of his right foot to itch the top of his left foot as he hums contemplatively. His mother will, without a doubt, jump at the chance to watch her-she’d probably even try to get him to leave her for the entire night (that’s a definite no go, however). 

“Just ask Mum.” Gemma sighs. Harry’s lack of response obviously has her feeling defeated. In truth, Harry is warming up to the idea.

Before he can say anything else however, his ears prick up with the sound of Bonnie beginning to fuss as she wakes up, probably searching for her next meal. Harry glances at his watch, his eyes widening at the time. Louis will be due any minute. He, Freddie, Harry and Bonnie are going for a stroll in the park to feed the ducks because according to Louis (and seemingly everyone else), Harry is lacking in the fresh air department (its kind of true, the only time he goes out is for shopping or with Louis). Making a vague and loose promise to think about going out to Gemma, he puts the phone down and hurries over to Bonnie to feed her and get her dressed.

His little girl has grown so much in such a short time. She now has chunky little legs to match her sweet chubby cheeks and she will happily babble away to herself. He gets to see her gorgeous blue eyes more and more and she’s always especially smiley when Harry gives her eskimo kisses (she also likes to grab onto his cheeks, Harry calls it her version of affection). He can get Bonnie dressed with minimal fuss and her reflux has begun to ease up which makes the twenty minutes before Louis arrives much simpler than they were in the first few weeks. 

When his door buzzes, Harry takes Bonnie with him to greet Louis at the door. He swings it open to reveal Louis in all his glory. He looks devilishly handsome in dark skinny jeans and a baggy t-shirt, very different from his usual school teacher attire. Harry enjoys the sight of him in either.

“Hello, little love!” Louis greets Bonnie, tickling her tummy. She smiles and bounces her legs in response. “Hello,” he then greets Harry, a little softer, a sweet smile around his words.

“Hi.” Harry leans down to kiss him on the cheek. It’s a new development in their friendship, but one both of them seemed to have welcomed. He then looks down to Freddie and offers him a hello as well. Freddie greets him back shyly. “Do you want to come in while I get Bonnie’s pram?”

Louis encourages Freddie past the threshold before following in behind him. “Quickly go to the toilet before we leave, please, Fred.” Louis requests. Freddie scuttles off in the direction of the downstairs bathroom. “Do you want me to take her for a minute?” he then offers to Harry.

Harry gratefully accepts even though seeing Louis with his daughter distracts him like nothing else. He loves watching how Louis’ expression goes soft and fond, his eyes full of warmth as he chats to her quietly, hoping to coax smiles out of her. Louis is always so careful with her and he looks so attractive with a baby in his arms. Anything Louis does seems to make him weak in the knees, yet he still hasn’t found the courage to do something about it. Several times over the past weeks, there’s been a shift in the air when their eyes have locked and there’s been a moment when it seems both of them consider crossing that imaginary line, but neither one has. Harry feels like it’s only a matter of time, but he doesn’t know when that right time is. Half of him is hoping Louis will make the first move whilst the other half is wondering why Louis might be reticent to.

Once Harry has the pram set up, Louis helps him secure Bonnie into it. Harry checks the basket underneath to make sure the parasol attachment is in there incase he needs it before double checking his baby bag to make sure he has everything.

“All good?” Louis asks as he ties Freddie’s shoe. Harry nods. “Right then, ready Fred?” Freddie nods too. “Let’s go, then.”

In the fresh air as they walk down to the park, Freddie gets a burst of energy, skipping along aside his dad, swinging George the dinosaur back and forth as he sings nursery rhymes. It brings a smile to Harry’s face. Louis has volunteered to push the pram, claiming that he misses it. Harry’s not one to argue with the offer. He hasn’t quite learned how to control it properly when turning corners, so he’s guilty of knocking down a few displays and running over toes. An opportunity for someone else to take the blame is not one to be missed.

“So how come you’ve got Freddie on a weekday?” Harry asks.

“I’m on half term so me and Andy swap days. He’ll have him over the weekend this week.”

“So do you get him for the whole summer?”

“Pretty much.” Louis says through a smile, obviously fond of the time. “Andy will take him though if I need a night, to like, catch up on work…or something?”

“Or something?” Harry echoes, intrigued by Louis’ shift in tone.

Beside him, Louis takes a deep breath. Harry glances at him out of the corner of his eye. He looks nervous which in turn makes Harry feel nervous. Louis still doesn’t say anything as they stop at a crossing and wait for the little man to turn green. Only once they’ve gone through the steel gates at the park’s entrance and Freddie has run off to the swing park does he finally clear his throat and stop them both from walking any further.

“Ok.” Louis begins on a harsh exhale. He combs his fingers through the front of his hair before his clear blue eyes meet Harry’s inquisitive green ones. A stray piece of hair has fallen across his forehead. Without thinking about it, Harry reaches out and moves it to join the rest of his hair with his index finger. Louis tracks the motion with his eyes, and Harry feels that weird charge in the air again. “I would really like to take you on a date.” Louis blurts.

Everything in Harry’s world stops. He’s not really sure he’s just heard Louis correctly. His finger is hanging uselessly in mid air and he’s pretty sure his expression is akin to a deer caught in headlights. Louis is chewing on his bottom lip as he waits for a response, but Harry has forgotten every single word belonging to the English Language in complete shock. 

“You don’t have to agree. I know you have Bonnie to think about, which I completely understand. But just know that I feel like we have something worth trying out and I’m willing to wait for whenever you’re ready.”

Louis’ rambling is beyond cute and the sentiment he was trying to communicate melts Harry’s heart. In his mind he’s aware there’s going to be some nay sayers. He’s a new dad and shouldn’t have the time to think about dating. But Harry and Louis already fit each other into their schedules just fine and have been doing so since Bonnie was born. Harry doesn’t believe it will be an issue. He’d also be stupid to even think of denying Louis. Louis is everything Harry’s always wanted and he thinks that dating him will only tick more boxes as he gets to know him better. There were people who objected when Harry decided to become a father all on his own and he didn't let them stop him. He’s not going to now either. Not when Louis looks so adorably anxious, shifting from foot to foot, eyes searching Harry’s expression for an answer.

“Louis, I’d really like for you to take me on a date.” Harry tells him, slowly letting a smile take over his face. 

The smile that spreads on Louis’ lips is the kind that takes Harry’s breath away. His blue eyes sparkle and they crinkle in the corners. It’s one of Harry’s favourite sights. “Yeah?” he asks, and he sounds breathless, in awe. Harry nods, biting on his lower lip bashfully. “When will you be free?”

Harry tilts his head as he takes a split second to think. On the outside he thinks he’s coming across as calm and unaffected, but inside it’s chaos. His heart is thundering inside his chest and his stomach is performing a gold medal worthy gymnastics routine. His palms are sweating and there’s a gospel choir rejoicing inside his head. But somehow, Harry manages to ignore it all and give Louis a soft smile and a gentle shrug, telling him, “Now is good.”

“N-now?” Louis stutters in surprise, visibly jolting, his hip knocking into the handlebar of the pram. “Even though we have the kids with us?”

“I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t think of a better time than now.”

For a moment, Louis looks completely baffled. Harry can’t help but to giggle. Louis then turns to face Bonnie in her pram who is wide awake and wiggling.

“What do you think, little love?” he asks her. “Can I take your daddy on a date right now? You’ll supervise us won’t you, make sure we keep it PG?” Harry smiles like it's the best thing he’s ever heard, also peering over at his daughter who’s watching Louis with curious eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Louis pull a cross eyed face at her and she smiles. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he decides.

It’s early enough in the day that the park is relatively quiet. There aren’t many kids in the playground, but that doesn’t seemed to have stopped Freddie befriending the few who are there. He’s currently chasing a boy who looks to be around the same age as him around the roundabout. He’s not in the least bit bothered what his father is doing which is probably why Louis feels comfortable enough to tangle his fingers with Harry’s as he pushes Bonnie’s pram one-handed over to the bench. Harry blushes like a teenager with a crush, biting on his bottom lip to try and stifle his giddy smile. He’s got the sudden urge to swing their hands back and forth, but he feels that may be taking it a step too far so he suppresses the urge and settles for squeezing Louis’ fingers instead. Louis parks Bonnie’s pram next to the bench and helps to make sure she’s sitting comfortably so that they can still see her.

“Would you like me to push you on the swings?” Louis offers with a cheeky grin. Its childish and silly and that’s the reason Harry loves the idea.

Harry sits down on a swing and waits as Louis walks around behind him. Louis grips the steel chains and tugs back, Harry helping out by pushing back on the balls of his feet and then they both let go, Harry instantly starting to laugh as he swings forwards and then back again. Louis pushes him again with hands flat on his lower back and Harry goes slightly higher. It doesn’t take long for Freddie to notice and he comes running over shouting, “Daddy, me!”, and then suddenly it’s a competition between Harry and Freddie to see who can go the highest, Freddie laughing raucously and both Harry and Louis smiling in utter delight. 

When they’re all swung out, they take a stroll down towards the lake and pick a spot on the hill, far enough away that the swans won’t bother them while they have a picnic. Louis sets it all up while Harry gets Bonnie’s bottle ready and then while Harry feeds her, Louis feeds him bites of ham and cucumber sandwiches. Whilst their date is an unconventional one-what with Louis’ son doing sausage rolls down the hill next to them and Harry’s daughter burping loudly between them-they still manage to cover all the cliched first date topics and flirt shamelessly. Harry doesn’t stop smiling, he’s beginning to wonder if the wind has changed and his face is permanently stuck like that despite that only being a myth his mother told him when he was younger. It feels too easy. He’s heard all kinds of horror stories about people struggling to get into relationships when they’re a single parent. Every book he’s ever read and every film he’s seen seems to make it a difficult hurdle to overcome, but if anything, this feels easier than when Harry first started dating. Louis isn’t afraid to get stuck in with Bonnie and Harry loves Freddie’s energy. It just seems to work.

They spend the next half hour of their impromptu date tossing shreds of stale bread to the ducks on the lake. Harry has Bonnie strapped to his chest and Louis can’t stop smirking at him.

“I can’t believe you own one of those,” he chuckles. 

“I don’t want her to miss out. This way she can be nosey.” Harry reasons despite the fact Bonnie is fast asleep and sucking on her dummy (really, Harry just likes the weight of her on his chest and the fact that she nuzzles into him in her sleep).

“My mum tried to make me get one of those. I told her she was mental.”

“I like it.” Harry shrugs. “Its kind of like a constant hug. It’s nice.”

“You utter mush.” Louis teases him, but Harry swears he can see fondness and endearment in his expression. The idea of that makes Harry’s cheeks burn. “Is your phone vibrating?” he then asks.

It’s only now that Louis has mentioned it that Harry can hear the dull vibrations coming from Bonnie’s bag. He quickly retrieves his phone hoping to catch it before the call cuts off. He looks at Louis apologetically when he swipes his finger to answer, but Louis just smiles and shrugs and mouths, “It’s fine.”

“Hello?” Harry answers.

“Harry, mate!” It’s Niall, chirpy as ever and Harry instantly knows what the call is going to be about. “How’s it going?”

“Good, it’s good.”

“Yeah? And how’s my little treasure?”

“She’s good. Fast asleep.”

“You need to send me more pictures. And I need to come for a visit soon!”

“For sure.” Harry agrees. “So what’s up?” Harry asks, hoping to speed up the conversation. He doesn’t want to leave Louis for too long, even though he looks ridiculously cute helping Freddie to throw the last of the loaf to the ducks.

“I was just wondering if you’d be up for that drink this weekend? Would your mum be up to babysitting for a few hours?”

Harry takes a deep breath and swallows down his instinctual decline. Going out will be good for him. Getting used to separation from Bonnie will be good for him. He repeats it over and over in his head as he answers, “Yeah, ok. I’ll ask her. Just for one or two, though. I don't want to leave her for too long.”

“Of course, mate, yeah, whatever you want. It’ll just be good to see you, the lads will all agree.”

“Ring me again with the details, ok?” Harry says, his eyes lingering on Louis chasing Freddie around as he threatens tickles. Harry wants to join him. Or snog him. Whichever Louis would prefer.

“You seem distracted. Are you alright?”

Harry is actually incredibly distracted. He’s thinking about what Louis might taste like if he kissed him right now. He’s wondering if he’d taste like the apple slices they’ve just finished eating and he’s thinking about how Louis might hold him. Would he cup his jaw? Or would he hold Harry’s hips? Would he brave and venture beneath Harry’s shirt to feel the warmth of his skin? Would he smile against his lips and allow Harry to bury his head in his shoulder when he gets too giddy? 

When Louis swings Freddie up onto his shoulders before catching Harry’s eye, Harry gets the sudden urge to tell everyone he knows that he’s on a date with the most beautiful man he’s ever laid eyes on. He wants to blurt it to Niall now who’s waiting on the other side of the phone, just because he feels so lucky. Louis smiles and winks at him and Harry knows he’s done for. He’s going to fall hard for Louis, if he isn’t already. For once, Harry has full confidence that Louis is going to be there to catch him.

“I’m uh,” Harry begins to reply, “I’m on a date.”

There’s a significant pause before Niall answers, “Sorry, say that again?”

Harry doesn’t know if he genuinely didn’t hear him or if it’s just sheer disbelief. “I’m on a date.”

“That’s what I though you said. You have Bonnie with you?”

“Yes.” Harry replies, then bites his lip waiting for more questions.  
“You’ll tell me more at the weekend?” Niall surprises him by asking.

With a breath of relief, Harry promises, “I’ll tell you everything.”

Thankfully, that turns out to be enough for Niall, so he wishes him well and they hang up. Harry makes sure to text his mum to see if she’s free to babysit for a few hours before he forgets and gets more distracted by Louis. He shoves his phone into his pocket before rejoining Louis at the edge of the lake. Louis is holding on to one of Freddie’s ankles with one hand, but his other one is free, so in an act of bravery, Harry slips his fingers into the gaps between Louis’ in a loose hold. Louis is the one who tightens the grip with a light squeeze. That squeeze is enough to spark Harry’s desire to know everything about the man next to him, from the simplest thing like his favourite colour stretching to more argumentative topics like his opinions on politics. Just like Louis had said at the beginning of their date, Harry can feel that there’s something good between them, something with so much potential. Harry decides right then he’s going to give it everything he’s got, no matter what anyone else says.

“What’s your favourite colour?” Harry asks.

Louis gives him an indulgent smile, almost like he knows every thought that’s just gone through Harry’s mind.

“Usually, I’d say red.” Louis looks right into his eyes. “But I think it might actually be green.”

Harry blushes, Louis chuckles and it all feels perfect. And then Bonnie decides to pass gas and reminds him how unorthodox this all is. It doesn’t make it any less wonderful.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

“Why is Bonnie sad, Harry?” Freddie asks.

Changing Bonnie’s nappy is proving to be a bit of a struggle. She’s got a bit of nappy rash that’s evidently proving to be quite painful and so she’s giving her lungs and legs a good workout. Harry’s in the middle of applying some nappy rash cream when Freddie comes over to see what’s wrong.

“She’s got a sore bum. I’m tying to make it better.” Harry explains.

“I hold her hand?”

Harry’s heart melts at the sweet gesture. Freddie has really started to bond with her-and him for that matter. It was when they were about to part ways at the park entrance that Freddie whispered to his dad, Louis relaying the message that Freddie wanted Harry and Bonnie to have tea with them. Harry was helpless to refuse. He accompanied them to the supermarket, Freddie lingering close to Bonnie’s pram the entire time, sneaking peaks at her. There was something beautifully domestic about Harry pushing Bonnie’s pram down the aisles with Louis just a step behind with a basket full of shopping they would share. It was almost like a tiny peak at a potential future, but that is a thought for much further down the line. Harry doesn’t want to get carried away before they've really begun. When they arrived at Louis’ house, Freddie remained close, bringing his lego blocks to the coffee table next to where Harry sat with Bonnie. It’s adorable and gives Harry hope for the future.

“I think that would be lovely of you.” Harry nods.

Freddie carefully makes a grab for Bonnie’s balled up fist. He doesn’t try to uncurl her fingers, just holds it, and then, of his own volition, he leans down and gives her a sweet kiss on the forehead. Harry thinks he’s dreaming.

“Are you being gentle, Fred?” Louis asks as he comes in from the kitchen, just as Harry has managed to wrangle a clean nappy onto his daughter.

“You’ve been very helpful, haven’t you?” Harry encourages.

“I give magic kisses.” Freddie tells Louis. _There’s a few of those saved up for Louis when they get a minute alone,_ Harry thinks to himself. “She’s all better now.”

Miraculously, Bonnie has calmed down some. She’s still whimpering, but her facial features and legs have relaxed. Harry dresses her again without issue while Louis praises his son who preens under his father’s attention. Louis sends Freddie off to play in his room and Harry places a now sleeping Bonnie back into her pram. It’s finally just the two of them. Harry’s heart is already racing and all he can think about is finally kissing Louis. But he’s nervous. Harry’s been building the moment up so much in his head that he’s not really sure how to execute it. Half of him is hoping that Louis will make the first move meanwhile the other half wants him to get over himself and get on with it because he wasting time that could be spent attached to Louis.

“Have you had a nice day?” Louis asks, his hand tentatively crossing the invisible boundary onto Harry’s thigh.

“I’ve had the best day. Thank you for the date, and for inviting me back for tea.” Harry says with a bashful smile. It certainly has been an unconventional first date, but that’s exactly why Harry loves it even more.

“You’re welcome.” Louis replies. “So you’d like to do this again? Maybe on our own? Not that I don’t love having the kids with us, but I’d quite like to woo you properly.”

Harry giggles, all boyish and giddy. “I’d love to.”

It’s going to happen then. Harry can feel it and if he’s not mistaken, Louis is leaning in and his eyes are focused on Harry’s lips. In his chest, Harry’s heart leaps and he's so ready, leaning forward to meet Louis halfway…

And then his phone rings and ruins it all, startling them apart from each other.

Harry huffs as he digs his phone out from his pocket. It’s his mum calling so he can’t be too stroppy, but he is disappointed over the missed opportunity.

“I’m sorry,” Harry apologises, “it’s my mum.”

“Go ahead.” Louis says, and he looks a bit forlorn too. If it were anyone else ringing him, Harry would have a few choice words for them.

“Hi, Mum.” Harry greets.

“Hello, love. I just read your text.” Harry hums in acknowledgment. “I can’t have Bonnie this weekend, I’m going to the theatre with Barb. I’m really gutted though, I would have loved to have her! And I’m so glad you’re going out, sweetheart. It will do you good.”

“Oh, ok,” Harry says, half disappointed and half wondering if it’s a sign he should’t be leaving his daughter yet. “That’s ok, I’ll just tell Niall another time, maybe next week?”

“Oh, love, I’m sorry. Next weekend is good for me though.”

Harry thanks her and dismisses any more apologies before ending the call. He can feel Louis’ eyes on him and sheepishly apologises as he silences his phones and places it on the coffee table in an effort for them not to be disturbed again even though the moment has well and truly gone. Louis doesn’t look the slightest bit put out, rather he looks completive. He bites his lip, his eyebrows slightly furrowed as if he’s considering something. It’s only a couple of seconds of silence until he opens his mouth and asks, “Everything ok? You just, you sounded like something was wrong?”

“Um,” Harry begins dumbly, “Niall, my best friend, asked me to go out with him this weekend so I asked my mum if she’d watch Bonnie for a couple of hours. She can’t.” Harry shrugs. “Its fine though, I’ll just ask him if we can move it to next weekend.”

Louis nods but his eyebrows still don’t smooth out from their furrow. He clears his throat and then runs his fingers through his fringe, nudging slightly closer to Harry on the couch. “I could watch her,” he then says, simply. Harry’s jaw actually drops, his own eyebrows shooting to his hairline, “if that’s ok with you, of course.”

“What?” is all Harry can stutter out in his surprise.

“I’ll take her for a couple of hours, or I can watch her at yours, whichever makes you feel more comfortable.”

The way he says it makes it sound easy, like he doesn’t really need to think about it and that notion makes Harry’s heart skip a beat and then speed up in his chest. He can feel the blood rushing in his ears and what sounds like his mum’s voice saying _you’ve found a good one, Harry, hold on, hold on, hold on…_

He’s just astounded really. Louis isn’t actually his boyfriend, they’re only now brushing the surface of dating each other and moving into more romantic territory. Louis shouldn’t want to take on the responsibility of Harry’s newborn daughter so soon. He shouldn’t want to be left alone with her yet while Harry goes out with his friends. But he does, and the thought is so lovely to Harry that he’s actually getting a lump in his throat, his bottom lip feels a bit wobbly and his eyes sting with the threat of tears. _This one's special, his mum’s voice speaks to him again, hold on tight…_

“You’d really do that?” Harry asks though he’s one hundred percent positive Louis meant it when he offered.

“Harry,” Louis says, his fingers snaking into the gaps between Harry’s where it rests in his lap, “I meant it when I said I think we’ve got something that could go somewhere, which means, in the future, I’d really like to be a permanent figure in Bonnie’s life.” Harry’s breath hitches. He has no idea how Louis’ thought that far ahead already, but it excites him, it doesn’t scare him like perhaps it should. “I’d actually really love it if you allowed me to have her for a couple of hours this weekend so I can show you that you can trust me.”

Harry already trusts Louis, but the gesture means so much to him, and obviously to Louis as well, that Harry nods his head and then throws all caution to the wind and tugs Louis forward so that he can finally, _finally,_ join their lips together in a kiss.

It’s electric. That’s the only way Harry can possibly describe it. Every single synapse is firing, screaming like police sirens, almost as if they’re saying _oh my god, you’re actually kissing Louis,_ which is most certainly playing on a loop inside his head. Louis’ lips are pillowy soft and his hands are warm and gentle when they come up to cup Harry’s jaw. Harry melts into him, sighing when one of Louis’ hands slides further back into his hair and his nails scratch at Harry’s scalp. Their hearts are pounding at a similar rate. Harry can feel Louis’ against his palm where it rests and it exhilarates him to know that Louis is as affected as he is. Everything about the kiss is slow and careful and measured, just like their friendship has been thus far, and Louis doesn’t push it. He doesn’t immediately try to force his tongue in Harry’s mouth to deepen their kiss, he seems quite content with their slow, open mouthed, almost indulgent kisses.

When they pull away, they’re both smiling, both a little bashful.

“Thank you.” Harry says for lack of anything else better to say. He just wants to kiss Louis again if he’s honest with himself.

“I feel like I should be saying that to you.” Louis chuckles, and he looks so beautiful with his cheeks a little flushed and his lips kiss swollen. Their darker colour seems to make his eyes even more blue.

“I didn’t mean about the kiss.” Harry laughs too. “But, yes, thank you for that. I meant for offering to watch Bonnie. You really don’t have to do that. But I love that you want to.”

In response, Louis just smiles softly at him before leaning in for one more chaste peck. It makes Harry’s tummy fizz and his cheeks darken with a blush. The feeling Harry has in his chest is not one he’s familiar with. He hasn’t had this with anyone else he’s dated, not even his last ex who he’d pictured himself making some sort of future with. Something about him and Louis just makes sense.

“I’m more than happy to do it. She’s lovely and I really want to bond with her a bit more. Freddie is quite taken with her too.” Louis chuckles. He stares at Harry’s lips for a few seconds and then, almost like he can’t resist, he leans forward and pecks Harry again. “I’m going to finish off the tea.” Harry whines in the back of his throat. He’d much prefer to kiss Louis some more. Louis grins. “Unless you want burnt fish.”

Harry scrunches his nose. “No thanks.”

“That’s what I thought.”

With that, Louis leaves to the kitchen and Harry is left on the couch still feeling dazed and light and so, so happy.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

It takes longer than Harry would care to admit for him to leave the house once Louis has arrived to look after Bonnie. It’s harder than he thought it would be, but Louis reassures him as much as he can (with maybe a few kisses thrown in for extra persuasion), and eventually, Harry gets in a taxi and makes his way to the pub to meet his friends. He’s inexplicably nervous even though he knows this is just going to go exactly how all other nights out with the boys went before Bonnie was born.

Harry has just set foot out of the taxi when his phone buzzes for the first time. It’s from Louis and it’s a picture of Bonnie snuggled up in her blanket and sucking on her dummy. Her big blue eyes are staring directly into the camera. She’s beautiful and Harry just wants to go home and cover her in kisses. The text reads, _“ **Have fun tonight Daddy. Love you!** ”_ which doesn't help matters because he’s already aching with desperation to be close to her again. He just hopes that he’ll relax once he sees the familiar faces of his friends. He has complete faith in Louis to look after her but he doesn’t have faith in himself to stay away-from either of them.

“There he is!” Niall’s voice yells over the noise of the pub. “The new dad finally out! Come here you." Niall pulls him into a hug with an arm around his neck. He’s obviously already had a pint or two before Harry’s arrival. “We’re just over there,” he points to a booth in the corner. “I’ll get you a drink.”

Liam, Nick and Mitch are all sat in the booth, all looking varying degrees of loosely drunk. Harry wonders how long they’ve already been here and he knows they plan to carry on until the early hours of the morning. Harry will consider it an accomplishment if he even makes it to nine o’clock. He slides in next to Mitch and offers them all a greeting. The three of them seem surprised at his presence, but delighted nonetheless and all try to give him sloppy smooches and pats on the back in congratulations of his daughter. Niall joins them seconds later with drinks in his hands for Harry and himself before squeezing himself into the remaining space next to Harry.

“So who’s looking after my treasure, then?” Niall asks, punctuating the question with a swig of his pint.

Before Harry can even answer, his cheeks betray him with a fierce blush. He was hoping to wait a little longer before he had to explain Louis, but as his luck would have it, he’s going to have to bite the bullet and accept the inevitable teasing that will surely follow.

“Um, Louis has her.” Harry says to his glass of vodka and lemonade.

“Who?” Liam asks.

“Who’s Louis?” Nick chimes in.

“This wouldn't be the lad you had a date with would it?” Niall asks, suspicion evident in his tone and Harry can only blush harder in response, especially when he chances a look at the faces around the table and is met with curious and expectant inquisition. He’s not so sure he wants to tell them anymore. He's fearful of how they’re going to react.

“He’s just a friend.” Harry says quickly by way of dismissal.

Niall however, takes his dismissal with a pinch of salt. He kicks Harry under the table in what Harry believes to be a ‘cut the shit’ gesture. Niall wants the truth, and Harry did promise it to him, so under his breath, Harry murmurs a quiet ‘later’ to Niall in hopes of appeasing him.

It does, if only for a while. It’s only after Harry done the obligatory bragging about his daughter and showing off all the pictures he has of her that Niall collars him and drags him to the bar under the guise of getting another round of drinks in. Harry steels himself, knowing that there's no escaping the talk. He’s noticed that Niall went a bit slower on the last pint, obviously in an effort to be some level of sober for this conversation. The idea makes Harry even more nervous to tell him. One small part of his brain is rejoicing at the opportunity of finally telling someone about the man he’s quickly falling for, the man who is so wonderful he’s embracing Harry and his daughter with open arms and makes Harry feel like he’s the most special person in the universe. But the larger part is scared of Niall’s reaction-of everyone’s reaction really.

“So,” Niall begins, leaning on his crossed forearms on top of the bar, “Louis?”

“Louis,” Harry parrots, “um, Louis is someone I’ve met recently.” Niall nods and raises his eyebrows, a silent gesture to carry on. “I actually met him last year, just briefly in a bathroom the day I found out Shannon was pregnant. We bumped into each other again in the hospital on the day Bonnie was born, weirdly enough. And then we just kind of, kept in touch?”

“Right,” Niall says with furrowed eyebrows, trying to connect the dots in his head, “so explain to me how this turned into a date and you trusting him with Bonnie?”

“It just did?” Harry says, more a question than any kind of explanation. He’s not really sure how to explain his and Louis’ relationship. The attraction had always been there for Harry, it just naturally developed into something more, but he's not sure how to explain Louis already being in Bonnie’s life without dropping in a mention of Louis having his own son.

Niall obviously doesn’t think much of his answer, he just takes a sip of his fresh drink and waits for Harry to continue. Fish-mouthing, Harry secretly hopes for some kind of interruption or distraction so that he can escape this conversation.

Harry sighs and averts his eyes when Niall doesn’t give up his silence. “Louis has a son.” He barrels on instead of checking for Niall’s reaction. “It started off as him giving me tips and reassuring me about certain things with Bonnie and then we started meeting up and taking the kids out and it was just so nice. He’s so good, Niall.” Harry gushes. “He’s everything I’ve been looking for and then he asked me on a date and I knew I’d be an idiot to say no.”

When Harry looks back up to gauge Niall’s reaction, he sees plain shock. Niall’s jaw is actually hanging open. Despite all his nerves, Harry actually starts to chuckle, lifting a hand to close Niall’s jaw before he takes a welcomed mouthful of his own drink.

“Um, wow.” Niall finally says. “You just unloaded a lot on me there.” Harry apologises sheepishly, a blush stealing its way across his cheeks. “But um, I’m actually really happy for you.” Harry’s heartbeat picks up happily. “It’s a little unconventional, and a little risky, but you seem really happy.”

“He makes me really happy.” Harry agrees.

“As long as he keeps doing that, he’s alright with me. I’d like to meet him actually.”

“Of course.”

“And, if you two want to have a date, just the two of you, I’ll happily watch Bonnie for you.”  
Overcome with gratitude for his best friend, Harry envelops Niall in a tight hug. Niall chuckles against his shoulder, rubbing Harry on the back in comfort. He knows how soppy Harry can get. The combination of Niall’s support and missing his daughter has Harry feeling particularly emotionally volatile, but he holds it in and accepts Niall's toast to him and his happiness before they join their table again.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

Two drinks turns out to be enough for Harry. The others were drinking much faster than him and getting gradually louder and sloppier, so he decided to call it a night a get home. Niall was sad to see him go, hugging him for a long time and making him promise that they’d do it again relatively soon. Harry agreed of course, because now that he’s ripped the plaster off and has left Bonnie for a couple of hours, he feels relatively ok about doing it again. Hopefully Louis will be able to join him on the next one and he’ll leave Bonnie with his mum.

Harry lets himself into is house with all the excitement of a toddler coming downstairs on Christmas morning. He’s itching to see Bonnie and to hold her. He’s missed the weight of her in his arms and her sweet cooing (he’s also itching to see Louis but he’s keeping that locked up tight in fear of getting carried away with himself). The house is quiet, all her can hear is the low hum of the television coming from the living room. Harry makes his way there on light feet and is greeted with the sight of Louis smiling at him from the armchair, Bonnie in her bouncer at his feet. It’s a heartwarming sight that has Harry feeling all kinds of fuzzy.

“Hello.” Louis greets him with a soft smile. “Did you have a good time?”

“It was good.” Harry says, smiling back with the same gentleness. “It was nice to see them.” He comes closer, crouching down to better look at his daughter. She’s sound asleep. “Was she ok?” Harry asks.

“Good as gold.” Louis replies. “I think she missed your cuddles at bedtime though. She wouldn’t settle so I went and got a t-shirt of yours out of the washing basket and let her cuddle with it. She calmed right down and went out like a light.”

It’s then that Harry notices the white fabric crumpled up on the floor next to Bonnie’s bouncer. The idea of Bonnie only calming when she could smell her dad makes Harry lip awfully wobbly and his throat tight. It’s such a nice feeling to know she missed him too. His quietness must betray him because he feels a warm, comforting hand rub between his shoulders. He leans into the contact and turns to land a grateful kiss on the closest part of Louis he can reach which turns out to be his knee.

“Thank you for doing this, Louis.” Harry says quietly.

“I’d do it again.” Louis shrugs.

Harry’s knees crack as he straightens up enough to pull Louis into a proper kiss. His lips are soft and warm and gentle and it makes Harry’s toes curl. Louis hums into the kiss, deepening it for just a quick second before pulling away for a series of gentle pecks. Harry wonders how he got so lucky to be blessed with his gorgeous baby girl and Louis is such a short space of time. He and Louis aren’t even anything official to each other but Harry knows he quickly heading to the place of no return. He wasn’t exaggerating when he told Niall that Louis is everything he’s been looking for. If Harry didn’t think it was too soon, he’d ask Louis to be his boyfriend right now. Rationally, he knows they need to spend more time alone and get to know each other better first.

“So,” Louis begins before chastely kissing Harry again, “do you think you’ll be able to do dinner sometime in the week with me?” Harry bites his lip over a smile and nods. He’d love that. “How about Wednesday night? I’ll pick you up.”

“Wednesday night should be good.”

“Good.”

“Good.” Harry parrots, both of them laughing quietly before melting seamlessly into another kiss.

It takes a long while after that for Harry to let Louis go. He can’t get enough of him, and the first tingles of desire are just beginning to tug in his lower belly when Bonnie begins waking up, probably searching for a bottle, or maybe she just wants to snuggle her daddy. Louis is the one to put an end to things, squeezing Harry’s hip as he murmurs a soft goodbye. Harry collects up Bonnie in his arms and brings her with him to see Louis out. He stands in the threshold of his front door and watches Louis climb into his car and waits their until the taillights turn out of his street. As he closes the door he sighs dreamily to himself before kissing his daughter on the head. He’s going to bed blissfully happy with one special man to thank for it.

** IV - SHALL WE? **

The day leading up to Harry’s first official date with Louis has been a trying one, almost to the point where Harry’s not entirely sure he wants to primp himself and go out anymore. His pyjamas and TV look terribly inviting. Firstly, Bonnie’s reflux has returned with a vengeance to the point where she started choking and gave Harry the worst type of scare by going blue. This then lead to spending the morning in hospital whilst doctors checked her over and prescribed her medicine to try and combat the excess acid in her stomach. Though he felt reassured by the doctors, Harry’s nerves have been shot all day and he hasn’t been able to relax. He’s been coddling Bonnie to the point he’s scared to leave the room in case it happens again which hasn’t allowed him a lot of time to look after himself properly. He’s tired and hungry and just a teensy bit smelly but he’s also irritable and overly emotional. It’s a volatile mix.

So then, when he’d gone to make Bonnie a bottle and realised that in the chaos of the morning, he’d forgotten to turn on the steriliser so she didn’t have a clean bottle, he actually had a little cry in the kitchen whilst his daughter slept on none the wiser. 

He’s still unsettled, he hasn’t had a shower, has no idea what to wear and Niall is due in a mere thirty minutes to look after Bonnie. Harry wonders if his disastrous day is an omen for how the night is going to go, whether it’s an ominous warning to steer clear of dating for the time being. However, Harry can’t help but think how much he would have loved it if Louis had been there. He would have calmed him, helped him stay under control and maybe even reminded Harry of all the other things he’s forgotten during the day. 

Harry swallows thickly, fighting off tears for what feels like the hundredth time today before he takes a deep breath and assesses the contents of his wardrobe. He itches the skin of his left bicep as he contemplates if wearing a pair of floral trousers would be a bit much. Bonnie snuffles in her sleep and startles him into pinching himself. His heart thunders as he gives her a cursory glance over to check nothing’s amiss and then he decides to hell with it all. Pulling a pair of trousers off a hanger along with a simple black shirt, Harry figures Louis won’t be paying much attention to what he’s wearing. Smelling fresh is much more important to him at this point so he makes quick work of stripping down and turning the shower on to as hot as he can bear in the hopes it will relax him some. The last thing he wants is to be tetchy on a night that’s supposed to be romantic.

Thankfully, by the time he steps out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist, he’s feeling marginally better, like the water has not only cleansed his sweaty body, but cleansed him of his worries. Bonnie is fine, she’s currently gurgling to herself as she tries to roll over on her Tummy Time mat. 

“Almost there, petal, just a little more.” Harry encourages her.

At the sound of his voice, Bonnie’s head slowly turns to face him and she tries to push herself up, eventually giving up and just wiggling her arms and legs and squeals. Not even his previously sour mood could prevent the smile from spreading on his face because of his daughter’s reaction to him. He scoops her up underneath the arms and spins her around a few times before bring her close to kiss her chubby cheeks. She squeals and giggles (and accidentally head-butts him in the lip) and he’s filled with so much love for her.

“Daddy is going out with Louis tonight,” he tells her. “I’m really looking forward to it but I’m quite nervous too.” Harry nuzzles her hair and breathes in her sweet baby smell. “I want this to work because I really, really like him. I think he’d be such a good second daddy for you too.”

Bonnie gurgles and scrunches her fist against his bare chest. Harry picks it up and pretends to eat it making her giggle wildly so he can’t resist lifting her to blow raspberries on her belly and make her laugh even more. Their moment is then interrupted by the sound of the door bell announcing Niall’s arrival. Harry carries Bonnie out to greet Niall with him and once the door is open, Niall is a boisterous whirlwind of giddiness and energy. He sweeps in and takes Bonnie right out of Harry’s arms, cooing over her and covering her in kisses before Harry can even get a hello in.

“I’ll just finished getting dressed then.” Harry says loud enough for Niall to hear but the response he’s met with is Niall singing The Wheels On The Bus. “Ok, good, yeah.” Harry answers himself with a smirk and goes into his bedroom.

The reflection staring back at him in the mirror is scrutinised once he’s got his clothes on and has managed to tame his hair a little. In his own opinion, he doesn’t look his best. There’s still evidence of his tiredness since Bonnie has only just settled properly into sleeping through the night and because of the hectic day he’s had. But he knows Louis gets it. Louis will understand and most importantly, he probably won’t care.

“Are you ready, mate?” Niall shouts in from the living room. “I think I’ve just seen a car pull up outside the window.”

Harry takes a deep breath and wipes his sweaty palms on his trousers. He double checks he’s set out Bonnie’s pyjamas and then scans the kitchen to make sure he’s set out bottles and formula ready for Niall to use.

“I’m going to have my phone on loud so you can phone or text me if you need me.” Harry tells Niall. “Please keep a close eye on her when you feed her.” A slither of panic rushes over him at the thought of not being there should this morning’s incident repeat itself. It must show on his face because Niall sets Bonnie down in her bouncer before walking over to Harry and placing his hands on his shoulders.

“We’re going to be fine.” Niall assures him. “I’ll text you when I’ve fed her so you know she’s ok but please try and relax and have a good time tonight.” Harry nods feeling his heartbeat slow back to normal. “You really like this lad, then?”

“A lot.” Harry says with a vigorous nod.

“Then go get him. Charm the pants off him.”

Harry fully intends to, especially because it’s their first time just them. He pulls Niall into a hug and thanks him for offering up his services and encouragement and then goes over to his daughter who is kicking her legs to bounce herself. Harry kneels down on the floor and kisses her forehead.

“I love you so much, petal. I’ll be back really soon.”

At that moment, the doorbell rings once again, but this time, Harry knows its Louis. He gives Bonnie another kiss before he stands up and brushes himself off to go and answer the door. When he does, Louis is stood on his doorstep and he looks radiant and put together and all round gorgeous. His smile is rivalling the sun and his eyes are just as bright. Harry is so enamoured with him.

“Hello Handsome.” Louis greets him. “You look lovely.”

“Thank you.” Harry manages to say in a relatively normal voice. He’s surprised he’s managed to form any words at all when faced with the real life image of Louis in front of him looking so dashing. “You look really good too.”

Louis’ smile turns more coy and he reaches out to slide a hand over Harry’s hip. Harry gets the hint and leans into the kiss Louis is inviting. It’s warm, chaste and gentle. It’s the perfect start to their night together.

Footsteps approach behind them followed by Bonnie’s ever constant gurgling. Harry smiles against Louis’ lips and chuckles when he hears the subtle clearing of a throat. Harry steals one more peck before he turns around to face Niall who is trying to perfect his intimidating best friend pose but it’s somewhat hindered by the adorable baby girl sucking on her dummy and loosing a battle to sleep in his arms.

“You must be Niall.” Louis says with cheer. “I’m Louis.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” Niall replies. “Please take care of him or you’ll have me to answer to.”

Harry smirks at Niall’s attempt at the hurt-him-and-I’ll-kill-you talk. Niall is much too cuddly (on his feet he’s wearing bright blue, fuzzy slipper socks with rubber ducks on because they make him feel cosy) and happy-go-lucky to ever truly mean anything even vaguely stern but Harry appreciates the sentiment nonetheless.

“Message received.” Louis tells him, hands raised in defence but still smiling happily. “And you take care of Bonnie. That little love needs to be spoiled like the pampered princess she is.” Louis warms him playfully. Harry’s heart skips a beat in his chest, especially when Louis reaches out to stroke at one of her fists and his face goes all soft and fond. “I’ll take care of your daddy, don’t you worry.” he promises her. “Sweet dreams.” Then to Harry, he says, “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Text me when you’re on your way back, H.” Niall asks. Harry nods his agreement. “Have fun you two. See you later.”

As soon as Niall has waved them off and shut the door, Louis slides his fingers into the gaps between Harry’s and lifts his hand to his lips to kiss it. It’s cheesy and cliche but it’s something that Harry’s never experienced before and that’s the reason his belly fizzes and he feels giddiness swell up his throat and bleed into a wide smile on his face. Louis smiles back at him beatifically, a small flush dusting his cheekbones, before gently pulling him down the path to his awaiting car. He even opens the car door for him, winking cheekily when Harry’s face flushes with delight. Louis climbs in the car with masculine elegance and Harry can feel his cheeks flushing further when he thinks about how attractive Louis looks sat at the wheel of a car and completely in control. His biceps flex as he shifts the car into gear and he gets a cute furrow between his brows as he reaches an arm behind Harry’s headrest he can get a better look while he reverses. Harry wants to kiss it. He also wants to reach across the space between them and place a hand on Louis’ thigh. So he does and Louis’ lips twitch upwards slightly. Harry bites down on another ridiculous smile and turns to look out of the window so that Louis doesn’t see the hearts pouring out of his eyes.

“So how was your day? Did you get up to much?” Louis asks. Harry sighs before regaling the tale of his troublesome and exhausting day. To Harry’s surprise, Louis looks appropriately shocked but also mildly disgruntled. “Why didn’t you rearrange with me? We didn’t have to do this tonight if you would have rather stayed in with Bonnie.”

“I wanted to do this tonight. I wanted to see you.” Harry tells him honestly with a small shrug. “Rationally, I know Bonnie is fine. I’ve just been ridiculously paranoid because it scared me a little. But honestly, being with you right now is making me feel better, like, relaxed.”

Louis’ smile is small and shy but it still makes Harry’s heart pound in his chest and garners a smile from him in response.

“I’m glad.” Louis says quietly. “But if at any point, you want to go home, you’ll tell me, yeah? I honestly won’t mind. Promise me you’ll tell me?”

“I’ll tell you.” Harry agrees though he knows that he won’t need to. He wasn’t lying when he said being with Louis has relaxed him. He feels as though something has settled down within him.

Before long, they're pulling up to a quaint pub restaurant with a small beer garden. There are several wooden picnic tables scattered about the place and Harry can't help but think about how nice it would be for them to have their dinner outside in the fresh air. However, despite it being June, there's still a slight chill in the air which might hinder their enjoyment of the date. He catalogues it for another time, perhaps during late August when the nights are warmer and stay lighter for longer. They could sip cold ciders and pick at nibbles. It would be perfect. 

When Louis turns off the engine, Harry's nerves start to creep in. Over the course of the day he hasn't had a moment to even think about feeling nervous, but now that he and Louis are together and about to spend a solid of amount of time without the buffer of their children, his nerves have hit full force. Louis however, looks the picture of calmness. He opens his door and rounds the car to open Harry's for him with a serene smile and a hint of excitement in his eyes. 

“You ok?” Louis asks. “Nervous?” he then smirks.

“Yes. Aren't you?” Harry wonders.

“Stupidly nervous.” Louis tells him with a chuckle. Suddenly, Louis makes a disgruntled face and reaches into his back pocket to extract his phone. He takes a look at the screen and then just slides the phone back into his pocket. His expression brightens again when he looks back up at Harry. “Shall we?” He asks, offering his hand. 

Harry nods, feeling shy and takes Louis hand. Louis leads him inside the pub and gives his name in. They are lead to a more private restaurant section at the back which has its own bar and soft lighting and Harry feels like he's in a movie. Compared to this, his last dates seem childish-though they felt wonderful at the time-so Harry once again feels overwhelmed by the adoration he already feels for the man responsible for all of this. He'd simply round the table and kiss him if he felt it appropriate, but their server is explaining the specials to them and he doesn't think she'd appreciate the interruption. Instead, he kicks his foot out in search of Louis’ beneath the table and hooks their ankles together. He beams at Louis when their gazes catch and Louis beams back at him, understanding without Harry saying a word.

Louis opts for a red wine spritzer since he's driving, so Harry joins him, not wanting to embarrass himself if he gets a bit too tipsy off straight glasses. They both toast to themselves and take a sip before settling back into just looking at each other with fondness. It lasts a few seconds before they both start laughing softly.

“So,” Louis begins, “the day we met at that concert, what were you doing there? I looked for you in the crowd but never saw you.”

Harry smiles just at the memory. He must have looked awful with red rimmed eyes and a flushed face but he remembers how lovely Louis had looked to him.

“I’m a sound technician.” Harry explains. “So basically I just make sure the mics are working and sound good and stuff. My company was hired for that tour.”

“Oh cool. So, have you met any celebrities?”

“Erm, a couple. Rita Ora is kind of my friend?” Harry tells him, blushing.

He'd worked on a festival Rita was playing at and then ran into her at an after-party where they got talking and wound up getting on like a house on fire. It ended in an exchange of numbers and sometimes they'll meet up for drinks and a catch up. She even sent a card and a gift for Bonnie’s arrival.

“That's sick. Sounds like a cool job.”

“I love it and I sort of miss it but I'm definitely not ready to go back. Probably won't be for a long time.”

“I felt like that when we had Freddie. I actually took a career break to raise him while Andy carried on going to work. This year is actually my first one back.”

As soon as he finishes his sentence, Louis gets that mildly annoyed expression back on his face. He fishes for his phone in his pocket and when he looks at what’s on the screen, he rolls his eyes and once again ignores it. Harry wants to ask who it is but he doesn't want to be nosy. Louis has been forthcoming so far without Harry's prompting, if he wants to tell him he will.

They talk a bit more about their childhood and where they grew up over their starters, Harry shocked to learn that Louis has six siblings, two of which are significantly younger than him. He enjoys hearing about how much he dotes on them. His love for them oozes from him with every word he says.

“So do you want more kids in the future?” Harry asks.

Louis smiles his crinkly eyed smile-Harry’s favourite smile-and nods. “I'd love more kids. Freddie is a handful but I think since he's been introduced to Bonnie he's mellowed out. He loves her if I'm honest. Always wants to come and visit.”

Harry's heart warms so much it's burning. It must show on his face how much he loved hearing Louis say that because Louis reaches across the table for Harry's hand and squeezes it. No longer being able to resist showing some form of affection, Harry lifts their joined hands to his lips for a kiss.

With their main course comes conversations about university and the trouble they managed to get into. Their food starts to go cold because they keep stopping to laugh and tease each other but neither of them mind. It's nice to be solely focused on each other. Louis’ phone has rung three more times by the time dessert comes around but he hasn't answered it a single time.

“If you need to answer your phone you can.” Harry offers. “I won't be annoyed or anything.”

“That's ok.” Louis dismisses. “It's just Andy. He's been making comments all week because he found out I'm dating. He knows I'm taking you out tonight so he's being an idiot.”

“He doesn't like the idea of you dating again?”

Louis scrunches his nose. “Not really but it's nothing to do with him.”

Harry takes a deep breath before he tentatively asks, “Why did you split, if you don't mind me asking?”

Louis smile is a bit more of a grimace. Harry is about to retract the question but Louis opens his mouth to answer so Harry stays quiet.

“I asked him to marry me.” Louis says. “As you can probably guess, he said no.”

The last thing Harry was expecting was the mention of a marriage proposal. Harry is appropriately shocked, not only about the nature of the split, but also at the fact that Louis was turned down. How could anyone say no to him?

“Our relationship was never really the same afterwards.” he continues. “There was a strain on it because I was uncertain about what kind of future he saw for us. As soon as we started to argue more than usual I ended it because it wasn't a good environment for Freddie.”

“I'm sorry.” Harry says and means it. It must have been hard to go from a relationship you were certain enough of that you were ready for marriage to a relationship where you felt uncomfortable.

“I'm not.” Louis says. “Look at where I am now.”

Harry rolls his eyes at Louis’ cheeky smile but he's blushing. “That was very smooth but also very cheesy.”

“Shut up, you loved it.” Louis teases and he's not wrong.

Much to Harry's discontent, Louis foots the bill for their dinner but Louis placates him with a soft kiss and a cheeky pat on the bum. Their drive back to Harry's house is quiet but not uncomfortable, both of them basking in the relaxed atmosphere. Harry hopes he's not alone in feeling like he and Louis have known each other for much longer than only a couple of months. He feels more at ease with Louis than he has with some people he's been friends with for years.

“Do you want to come in?” Harry asks when they pull up. He's not ready to part from Louis yet. “Just for like, a cup of tea or something.”

With an indulgent smile, Louis nods. But before Harry can get out, Louis pulls him in by the back of his neck and kisses him. Louis’ lips are plush and warm and his hand is gentle where it rests on the back of his neck, the tips of his fingers playing in the short hair on the back of Harry's head. Bravely, Harry swipes his tongue against Louis’ lips and Louis answers by opening his mouth and meeting Harry's tongue for the next languid sweep. Both of them moan at the contact trying to force closer to each other but its somewhat difficult with the restriction of the seat belts they still haven't removed and the gearbox between them.

“Let's go inside.” Louis suggests in a whisper.

Louis leads Harry with a warm hand on his back up the path to the front door. Harry's a little shaky with excitement so he fumbles his keys a few times but then he doesn't need to let them in at all because Niall is opening the door and greeting them with a sunny smile.

“Good time boys?” he asks.

“The best.” Harry replies as they walk in and each take off their jackets. “How was Bonnie?”

“She was great. A bit fussy at bedtime but she's out cold now.” Niall pulls Harry in for a hug. “Her monitor is on in the living room. I'll leave you two to it. Nice to meet you, Louis.”

“You too.” Louis replies as they both watch him retreat to the door. “Short and sweet.” Louis chuckles when the door shuts behind Niall. “Do you want to check on Bonnie and I'll put the kettle on?”

Harry's fish-mouths for a second, that overwhelmed feeling washing over him again before he utters a succinct, “No” with a shake of his head for emphasis. “I really want to just snog the shit out of you.”

“Ok.” Louis agrees and they both grab for each other, mouths crashing together to continue from where they left off in the car.

This time, Louis has lost all of his previous gentleness but it's not unwelcome. He grabs Harry by the hips and bring them flush together before kissing down Harry's neck and nipping at his skin with his teeth. Harry shivers in pleasure and nuzzles into Louis’ neck, breathing him in. Their hands wander and their mouths explore, they breathe heavy and stay close to each other until both of them are too breathless and too lost in each other. Louis pulls Harry towards the couch and sits down, tugging Harry to encourage him to sit astride his thighs. Harry is only too happy to comply.

“You're fucking gorgeous, you know that?” Louis says quietly. The profanity makes Harry's insides tingle. “I can never look away from you when we're together.”

Harry kisses him quiet to stop his blush from getting any worse. He subtly begins to grind down on Louis and feels Louis’ interest stirring beneath him. It's heady and hot and Harry finds himself wanting everything. He can't recall ever feeling so reckless since his wilder times in university.

It's as Harry is about to reach down between them that Bonnie's cry comes through the monitor. They pull away from each other with a smack and Harry begins to slide off Louis’ lap.

“Sorry.” Harry apologises.

“What for?” Louis asks, confused.

“I don't know, just…” Harry's at a loss for words. Apologising was just a knee jerk reaction but he should have known Louis wouldn't be the least bit put out.

“You don't need to apologise, ok? Ever. Now let's go, I want to give her some cuddles myself.”

Harry jogs in front of Louis upstairs and into his bedroom, Louis follows at a more sedate pace. Bonnie is in her Moses basket giving her lungs and limbs a workout.

“Oh, petal.” Harry coos reaching in and picking her up to cradle against his chest. Instantly, she calms and nuzzles him. He gives her his index finger and she holds it in a vice grip. “Did you miss Daddy? I missed you too.” He kisses her on the forehead. 

“She just wanted her daddy.” Louis says quietly, coming behind Harry and kissing him on the shoulder. “I'm sorry for stealing him, love. He’s all yours now.”

Something about that sentence implies that Louis is ready to leave. Harry’s stomach drops at the thought. He’s really not ready for Louis to leave. He wants him to stay and cuddle him, which theoretically should scare him to think about this early on in their budding romance, but frankly, the thought of him not being there is more disconcerting.

“Are you leaving?” Harry asks, trying to sound casual but failing miserably.

“I figured you’d want to sort yourself out and get Bonnie settled again.” Louis shrugs but his expression is somewhat hopeful, almost like he doesn’t want to leave either but is being polite.

“You could stay?” Harry offers letting some hopefulness bleed into his tone.

“The night?” Harry nods. Louis hesitates for just a second and Harry wonders if he maybe is going to fast and getting too carried away. “Are you sure? And you know I have work in the morning so I’ll have to be up handy?”

“If you don’t want to, that’s fine. But I’d like it if you did.”

After a moments contemplation, Louis kisses Harry on the back of the shoulder again and places his hands on Harry’s hips. “Ok. I’d like that too.” he murmurs into Harry’s shirt. Harry’s heart leaps in response.

So he can get ready for bed (and for the true domesticity aspect), Harry gently hands Bonnie off to Louis for the cuddles he promised to give her. He undoes the buttons of his shirt and shrugs it off with his eyes still on the pair. Louis has her close to his chest and is softly singing to her. He looks completely at ease and totally in his element. His trousers are shucked off before he climbs into bed and then he watches Louis place Bonnie back in her Moses basket and leave a sweet kiss on her forehead.

“Night night, little love.” Louis says and then he gets undressed to join Harry in bed.

They wiggle under the covers to get closer together, warm skin against warm skin and Harry sighs at the feeling. He’s forgotten what its like to share a bed with someone, to share their warmth and mould your body to theirs. It’s Louis who pulls them together, his arm slung over Harry’s waist so Harry nudges his calf between Louis’ before rubbing their noses together in an eskimo kiss. Louis closes his eyes and smiles.

“Night, love. Sweet dreams.” Louis says.

“Night.” Harry replies and closes his eyes. 

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

“Look at her, she loves it!” Gemma says with a giggle. 

Bonnie is smiling and kicking her legs as Harry holds her against his chest in the warm water of the swimming pool. She’s only wearing a swim nappy covered in neoprene swim pants so to her it must feel like bath time and Harry is certain that getting a bath is Bonnie’s favourite thing. He’s decided to enrol Bonnie in Water Babies lessons and has dragged Gemma along for some moral support. Thankfully, he’s not the only dad in the pool but there’s already been a pinch of awkwardness when the instructor assumed Gemma was Bonnie’s mother. Gemma was very quick to put her right, though Harry’s not sure he appreciates being outed so soon. He was hoping for a bit longer before he had to mention anything.

“Don’t forget to take some videos.” Harry reminds her. “I want to show Louis.”

Instantly, Harry realises his mistake. He hasn’t forgotten Gemma’s intrigue with the texts Louis had sent him the day Bonnie was born. He’s made a point not to mention Louis since because he doesn’t want to face an inquisition. But after this morning; Louis kissing him awake with a cup of tea and a bottle already made for Bonnie, all puffy eyed and body covered in one of Harry’s t-shirts, Harry can’t be blamed for having him on his mind. It was a glorious way to wake up and has significantly affected Harry’s mood for the day. He feels like he’s been floating on a cloud since Louis picked him up for their date.

“Louis?” Gemma enquires.

“Um, yeah?” Harry says, trying to come off casual, but he can feel the blush on his cheeks already. He’s praying for the instructor to start with the lesson so that he can escape the conversation before its begun.

“Have you made a new friend?” she then asks faux innocently.

Harry decides to bite the bullet. “I’m dating him.” Before Gemma can ask any follow up questions, Harry says, “Please don’t ask anything else. It’s brand new but I like him a lot and he’s really good with Bonnie, ok?”

To his surprise, Gemma just smiles and says, “Ok.” She laughs at Harry’s dropped jaw. He was expecting her to ignore him and be the nosy big sister she usually is. “But for the record, I’m happy for you.”

Thankfully, to save Harry from any more bashfulness, the instructor calls for the class to start. They start with learning the warm up which consists of them walking around in a circle and singing a song that has corresponding actions. Bonnie squeals every time Harry lifts her out of the water and around in a circle. Harry’s face hurts from smiling and he can hear Gemma cooing and laughing from her perch at the side. They go on to getting the babies used to having their faces in the water by pouring water over their faces. Bonnie splutters but is otherwise nonplussed. Gemma films the entire thing and tries her best to distract Harry from the approaching instructor who is working her way down the line and dunking the babies underwater. Harry will admit he’s worried, but more about her reaction to a stranger rather than the action of going underwater. 

“She’s doing really well, Harry.” Gemma praises. “She’s a little duckie, aren’t you?” Harry kisses Bonnie’s cheek and smooths her hair. “Oh, Louis just texted you. He wants to know if he can see you for a little bit tonight.”

“Tell him yes and to come round whenever.”

The instructor reaches Harry and Harry tries to adopt a calm demeanour as he hands off Bonnie to her. Bonnie keeps her eyes on him and looks bewildered, but aside from that she doesn’t fuss. And then, quick as a flash, she’s dunked underwater and comes back up with a wrinkled face and a protruding bottom lip signalling the onset of a cry. Before the cry can properly take hold she’s back in Harry’s arms and both him and Gemma are praising her for doing so well. Harry actually feels a bit overwhelmed. His eyes are stinging and not just from the chlorine.

Later when they’re in the car and Harry’s watching the videos back on his phone he gets that very same feeling. He can’t wait to watch her learn and grow throughout the course.

“So how long have you and Louis been dating?” Gemma asks and Harry rolls his eyes. He should have known Gemma’s nosiness would get the better of her sooner or later.

“Not long.” Harry sighs. “But it’s already kind of intense because of the kids.”

“Sorry, _kids? Plural?”_

Harry wants to smash his head against the window for yet again putting his foot in it. He supposes there’s no way to plead the fifth any more so he’ll have to start talking before Gemma starts conjuring up her own stories and tattle tailing to their mum.

“Yes. Louis has a son. He’s lovely.”

The silence following Harry’s admission is deafening. Harry can’t bring himself to look at his sister in fear of what look he’ll find on her face. He’s well aware of the unconventional nature of his and Louis’ progressing relationship but he’s past the point of caring when it feels so right to be with him.

“Gem?” Harry tries.

“You know what you’re doing, right?” Gemma sounds weary but also like she’s trying not to be patronising which Harry appreciates. “If he has a kid as well I’m assuming there’s a third party to consider.”

“Yes, he’s told me about his ex and told his ex about me.”

“Ok, good.” Gemma says on a relieved exhale. “Just be careful, you know the drill. I’m always here if you need.”

“Thank you. But I know what I’m doing.” Harry assures her though he’s not sure how true the statement is. When it comes to Louis he kind of just goes with the flow. It hasn’t failed him so far. “It’s all happening fast but only because we want it to. I honestly can’t wait for you to meet him.”

There’s another brief silence, but one look at his sister’s expression and Harry can tell she’s cooking up some sort of mischievous plan. He raises his eyebrows as he waits, ready to shoot down whatever proposal she comes up with.

“I could meet him now?” Gemma suggests slyly.

“Nope.” Harry replies decisively. “It’s too early, Gem. We’re not even official.”

“But you want to be.” 

It’s a statement, not a question. It sits that way in Harry’s mind too. One day-hopefully soon-he hopes to be known as Louis’ boyfriend. It feels almost inevitable now, like they’re just biding their time until they both agree that this is it for them.

“Very much so, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to start introducing him to my family.”

“Fair enough.” Gemma shrugs and then they’re pulling up outside Harry’s house. “Same time next week, then?”

Harry nods and kisses his sister on the cheek before getting out and collecting up Bonnie. The house is a bit of mess when he steps inside. There’s a pile of washing in front of the machine that he needs to get to and this morning’s dishes are still filling the sink. Bonnie’s blanket and several toys are spread over the couch cushions, her bouncer placed in front of the seat where Harry usually sits. Sighing at the list of things he needs to do before Louis gets here, Harry sets upon the living room, placing Bonnie down on her tummy with some toys in front of her and Baby TV playing nursery rhymes in the background.

By the time Louis rings the bell later in the evening, Harry has heard Baa Baa Black Sheep more times than his sanity can handle, he’s only managed to move the pile of washing into a basket, wash Bonnie’s bottles and eat a packet of mini Jammie Dodgers. Bonnie is beginning to get fussy as it nears time for her bottle and he needs to think about what he might cook for himself. He opens the door to Louis feeling-and probably looking-frazzled. He hasn’t stopped since they returned from Water Babies and the tiredness is just beginning to set in.

“Hi, you alright?” Louis greets him before taking in his current state. “You look a bit flustered.”

“I haven’t stopped all day.” Harry tells him before leaning in for a peck. Louis holds him there and kisses him a bit more thoroughly from which Harry feels his shoulders relax and his breathing calm. “Thank you for that.” Harry chuckles when they pull away.

“Right then, what can I do?” Louis asks as he steps over the threshold. “Where’s my little love?”

“She’s in the living room. Its time for her bottle.”

“I’ll do that then, you sort yourself out because I can hear your tummy grumbling.”

“Louis-“

“Nope.” Louis interrupts. “Go and make yourself something to eat. I will feed Bonnie.”

Louis’ stern look leaves no room for argument so Harry relents and slinks off to the kitchen. Louis follows behind him and gets busy making up Bonnie’s bottle while making sure Harry is doing as he’s told out of the corner of his eye. Harry purposely tests the waters by standing at Louis’ side and trying to take over to which he receives a playful swat on his backside. Harry giggles boyishly as he goes back to heating up some chicken soup and buttering bread. 

“Have you had something?” Harry shouts through to Louis.

“No, babe, not yet.” Harry flushes at the pet name, pleasure and giddiness spreading through his body in tingles. “Don’t worry about me, though.”

“I’ll do you a bowl of soup.”

Harry sets the table for them, lighting his vanilla candle in the centre. Louis ambles in, Bonnie feeding happily in his arms and smiles when he takes in the scene in front of him. When Harry straightens, Louis kisses him sweetly, murmuring a quiet, “Thank you” against his lips. They each sit down and Louis manoeuvres Bonnie so he can feed her one handed and dip some bread in his soup with the other. The domesticity of what’s happening is making Harry feel all sorts of wonderful. It’s almost like seeing into the future, but in his head he can imagine Freddie at their table too, chatting about his day and formulating mischievous plans.

“This is nice.” Harry says through a smile.

“It is.” Louis agrees softly and for a moment they just look at each other, silently communicating. Harry realises they’re on the same page, thinking the same things. It’s both reassuring and heartwarming. “Tell me about Water Babies. Did she love it?”

Louis’ question opens the door to a tidal wave of Harry’s gushing comments about how well Bonnie did and how much she loved it and how proud of her he is. He gets his phone out between them and plays Louis every single one of the videos, smiling manically all the while. Glancing up from the video for Louis’ reaction, Harry is surprised to find Louis’ eyes a little misty. His smile is soft and reverent and what Harry can only describe as loving. He doesn’t take his eyes off the video, even though Harry knows that Louis can feel himself being watched, but he does slide his hand onto Harry’s thigh and squeeze at the same time as his smile widens at the sound of Bonnie’s squealing. Harry slips his hand on top of Louis’, curling his fingers into the gaps as they watch the final one of Bonnie getting dunked for the first time.

“Oh, look at her little face.” Louis coos. “She doesn’t know whether to cry or not.”

“She didn’t, she was very good.” Harry tells him proudly just as Louis disconnects their hands and sits Bonnie up to start winding her. “Claire, our instructor, said that we’ll get to go underwater with them too in a lesson. And there’s a photoshoot at some point I think.”

Louis sighs wistfully. “I wish I’d been able to do this with Freddie.” There’s a moments silence when the video ends and then Louis continues, “Do you think I’d be able to come to a lesson with you once school finishes? Would that be ok?”

Breath hitching, all Harry can do is nod dumbly. It always leaves him a bit breathless when Louis hints at something long term or speaks of the future so easily. While a part of Harry thinks that this kind of intensity should scare him, he also understands that there’s really no room to test the waters when there are children involved. For them now, when they consider dating someone, it has to be certain from the get go. They have to think long term. Harry’s not sure he’s been able to do anything but think long term when it comes to Louis. He can see everything with him and he wants it so badly.

** V - PROMISE **

It becomes a thing, their Wednesday date nights. Niall arrives at six to watch Bonnie, Louis picks Harry up at half past and by seven they’re off doing something together. They arrive home by ten and Louis stays over. Waking up next to Louis every Thursday morning is kind of brilliant and watching him slowly become part of Bonnie’s morning routine is a sight to behold. Their attachment to each other now is special. Bonnie recognises Louis’ scent, calms when she smells it and he makes her laugh like nothing else. 

It’s on one of their nights together when Harry wakes up while it’s still dark-his phone tells him it’s three am-to the sound of soft singing. He slides one of his feet back in search of Louis’ but the bed is void of his presence, however his warmth is still on the sheets. Harry rolls over and sees Louis stood by the window, his figure slightly fuzzy through his sleep heavy eyes and the darkness, though the shape of Bonnie in his arms is unmistakeable. Her head is on his shoulder, Louis’ head resting softly upon hers, both of them with eyes closed, close as they can possibly be. It’s then that Harry recognises the singing is coming from Louis. As he rocks back and forth, he’s quietly singing My Bonnie, just as Harry has before to get Bonnie back to sleep. Harry refrains from making his now awake presence known, instead content to just watch an oblivious Louis. It’s made difficult however when Louis presses a soft kiss to Bonnie’s hair and murmurs a quiet “Sweet dreams, little love” and Harry has to stop himself from audibly swooning. Then, instead of sliding back into bed like Harry expects, Louis stays next to Bonnie’s Moses basket, just watching her sleep with a dreamlike smile.

“Lou,” Harry whispers, but still manages to startle Louis, “come back to bed.”

“Hi, baby.” Louis whispers back, leaning across the space dividing them to kiss Harry’s temple. Despite his sleepiness, Harry’s heart still leaps. “I’m just going to have a wee and I’ll be right with you.”

True to his word, Louis comes right back to bed and slides in as close as he can get to Harry, slipping his chilly feet between Harry’s ankles. A slight shiver runs through Harry at the contact, but he just curls in closer to Louis’ warm chest. Louis wraps an arm around him and strokes his fingertips up and down his spine. Harry’s eyelids droop with the soothing motion.

“Thank you for taking care of Bonnie.” Harry murmurs into Louis’ shoulder, punctuating it with a kiss. “You’re so good with her.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” Louis tells him. “I do it because I love her.”

In the silence that follows, Harry hears _just like she’s my own_. He closes his eyes and falls asleep burying a blissful smile in Louis’ skin.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

“I know it hurts, petal, I’m sorry.” Harry tries to soothe his crying daughter as he rummages in the fridge drawer for a cold teething ring. He’s already given her the proposed dose of Neurofen which has helped combat the fever and runny nose, but it doesn’t seemed to have helped with the pain of her tender gums. Neither has the fact that she is probably overtired helped. With a triumphant grin, Harry pulls out an ice cold teething ring. He holds it up to Bonnie’s mouth who starts sucking on it without hesitation, not even wincing at the cold temperature. “There you go, I hope that helps.” Harry kisses her temple and carries her into the living room before setting her down on her play-mat. Unable to leave her, he lies down beside her and picks up one of her toys, rattling it and singing nursery rhymes to her. “Louis will be back soon.” he tells her as he wipes away some dribble with her bib. “Freddie is coming too so you’ll get lots of cuddles.”

As if they’d heard him talking about him, the doorbell chimes and Freddie shouts, “Hello, Harry!” through the letterbox. Harry gets up to answer the door and Freddie tumbles into his legs, wrapping his arms around them as he grins up at Harry’s face. “Daddy buyed chocolate cake for after tea!”

“Did he? That was kind of him.” 

Louis bustles in, hands laden with shopping bags, rolling his eyes with fondness.

“Where’s Bonnie?” Freddie asks.

“In the living room. Be gentle though, bud, she’s not very well today.”

Freddie frowns but then quickly takes off running to find Bonnie. Harry knows she’ll be in good hands with Freddie (his warning was moot really, Freddie is always gentle with Bonnie, and fiercely loving). His departure allows for him to greet Louis properly. Harry steps forward and pries one of the carrier bags from Louis’ hands while meeting him in the middle for a soft kiss.

“How is she?” Louis asks. “I got that teething gel.”

“Thank you.” Harry says, quickly kissing Louis again. “She’s ok. I’ve got her temperature down now so she’s not as fussy.”

“Has she slept much?”

“No.” Harry sighs. “But I’m going to make her a bottle and see if that’ll help her drift off.”

Louis follows Harry into the kitchen where they work seamlessly around each other putting away the few bits Louis bought at the supermarket. Harry makes a warm bottle for Bonnie whilst Louis leans against the kitchen counter tapping away on his phone. He looks annoyed at whatever he’s reading, his mouth scrunching from side to side and eyebrows drawn down in a frustrated ‘V’. Using his toe, Harry nudges Louis’ ankle to which Louis looks up sharply, features smoothing out into a smile that Harry knows is fake.

“Everything ok?” he asks.

“Yeah, yeah, fine.” Louis replies unconvincingly. Harry frowns. In an attempt to placate him, Louis flutters kisses over Harry’s face. Harry can’t help it when a giggle escapes him, though he stores away his questions about Louis’ mood for later. “Come on, let’s set up a film with the kids and snuggle for a bit before tea.”

When they enter the living room they see both Freddie and Bonnie on their backs. Harry begins to quietly chuckle to himself as he hears Freddie trying to encourage the little girl to roll over by demonstrating first and describing it step by step. Funnily enough, Bonnie looks as if she’s listening, eyes glued to him as he talks and rolls over from side to side.

“This is so bloody cute.” Louis whispers. 

And then amazingly, Bonnie copies Freddie and rolls right over onto her belly before pushing her chest up with her little chubby arms. Freddie cheers for her and claps and then kisses her on the head. Harry thinks he’s dreaming.

“Now _that_ is fucking cute.” Louis amends. “I love my son.”

“I love him too.” Harry says and his sincerity and seriousness makes Louis turn to him with a soft smile before drawing him into a languid kiss.

“Harry, look!” Freddie calls to him. “I help Bonnie roll over.”

“You certainly did. You’re a great teacher.” Harry walks to Freddie with his palm held out. “High five, bud!” Freddie smacks their hands together with a beaming smile. “Why don’t you pick a film for all of us to watch?”

Freddie scuttles off gleefully and Harry scoops Bonnie up into his arms to take her back to the couch. Louis is already sat down, once again engrossed in his phone with that disgruntled expression marring his features. When Harry sits down beside him, he’s quick to lock his phone and place it face down in his lap which instantly arouses Harry’s suspicion. Before Harry can ask, however, Freddie comes back brandishing a Toy Story DVD. Harry starts to move, but Louis places a hand on his thigh to still him and gets up, interestingly taking his phone with him, using the time it takes the DVD to load to read whatever he’s hiding. Out of the corner of his eye, he keeps an eye on Louis standing next to the TV while he feeds Bonnie. Whatever it is, it’s making Louis angry and Harry intends to find out.

“You sure everything is ok?” Harry asks when Louis sits down again, phone out of sight.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Louis tells him and he tries to put on a smile but it’s so fake that it hurts to see it.

“It just looked like something on your phone was bothering you.” Harry tries.

“No, it’s nothing.”

It’s so obviously a lie. Harry can tell from the tone of his voice and the way Louis just won’t settle next to him. The fact that Louis is hiding something from him makes Harry feel slightly uncomfortable. They’ve never hidden things, they’ve actually been shockingly open with one another. Though he wants to probe, Harry decides to leave it alone until it’s just the two of them, perhaps when they’re doing the dishes and Freddie is occupied with the new toy Harry plans to surprise him with after tea.

Despite the fact it was Louis’ idea for them all to sit down and watch a film, he doesn’t pay it the least bit of attention, instead he’s engrossed in whatever secret conversation he’s been having all day. Even Harry’s attempts at cuddling go unnoticed. By the time the credits roll around, Harry is more than a bit put off with him. He switches back to the normal telly and puts some Paw Patrol on for Freddie, then, without saying a word, Harry walks into the kitchen to start getting their tea ready. He gets the vegetables out of the fridge, as well as the chicken and begins preparing to cook everything. By the time Louis strolls into the kitchen, Harry is adding the barbecue seasoning to the chicken, almost finished with the dish. Louis still says nothing, so Harry decides he won’t either. It’s childish, but he doesn’t like being kept in the dark, not by someone he’s supposed to be in a mature, adult relationship with.

“Smells lovely in here.” Louis comments. 

Harry doesn’t say anything, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Louis’ phone rings and he’s out of the kitchen in the blink of an eye. Harry hears the thudding of footsteps up the stairs as Louis speaks in a low voice into his phone. Gripping the tea towel in a tight fist, Harry grits his teeth in frustration. He’s never wanted a night with Louis to be over quickly, but Harry is quickly losing his patience. He’s not much in the mood to be ignored. So this time when Louis comes down just as Harry is plating up, Harry keeps his mouth shut.

“I’ll shout Freddie.” Louis says. The only acknowledgment Harry gives him is a short nod.

Their meal is tense. Louis seems to have finally noticed that something is wrong, but Harry knows he’s confused. He keeps looking across the table to try and catch Harry’s eyes but Harry won’t let him. Instead, Harry occupies himself listening to Freddie talk about the last drawing he did. Harry only cracks when Freddie offers to make him a drawing. He smiles softly and tells him how much he’d love it. Deciding it’s a good time to bring pudding out, Harry clears the plates and takes them into the kitchen, only he doesn’t expect to be followed. When he drops the plates into the sink, he feels Louis’ eyes on him.

“Is something wrong?” Louis asks. “You seem a bit off.”

“We’ll talk about it after.” Harry replies, taking the cake out of its box.

“Is it-“ Louis cuts himself off with a huff and reaches into his pocket. Harry scoffs and rolls his eyes, pushing past Louis with the cake and a knife in his hands. At the uncharacteristic action, Louis’ attention snaps back to Harry. “Harry?”

“Later, Louis.” Harry grumbles but musters a smile for Freddie when he cuts him a piece of cake.

“Can Bonnie have some, Harry?” Freddie asks sweetly.

“She’s a bit too small, bud. When she’s a little bit older she can have some.” Harry looks over his shoulder to see Louis still standing there looking confused. Turning back to Freddie, Harry says, “Tell you what, just for today, you can eat your cake in the living room. Be careful not to drop any though ok?”

“Promise.” Freddie agrees and carries his bowl of cake away as if it were the most precious of artefacts.

Only once Harry’s sure Freddie is out of earshot does he turn around to face Louis. There’s a significant distance between them but Harry is sure it will help him to keep a clear head if he can see Louis’ expressions and body language clearly. It’s obvious Louis is uncomfortable, he’s already on the defensive, his arms crossed across his body, though Harry doesn’t know if its just because they’re about to have a confrontation. Harry himself is uncomfortable with the thought-he doesn’t do well with confrontation either-but Harry knows they need to clear the air between them before Freddie notices something is wrong and before it turns into a much bigger issue.

Surprisingly, it’s Louis who broaches the subject first. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

“That’s what I want you to tell me.” Harry replies, trying to keep the sharpness out of his voice.

“I’m not sure what you mean.” Louis shuffles his feet, his body language giving away the lie. Harry sighs and shakes his head. “What?” Louis sighs, frustrated.

“You’re keeping something from me and I don’t appreciate it.” Harry explains calmly. “You’ve also barely been present all evening. Your phone has held your attention better than I have.”

Louis gives his own head shake, uncrossing his arms and running a hand through his hair. “I was having a conversation.” is the excuse Louis gives. There’s something sarcastic about his tone which grates on Harry a little.

“It looked more like an argument to me. It wasn’t making you very happy.”

“Not every conversation is a happy one.”

“Please don’t patronise me, Louis.” Harry says in the hopes of cooling Louis’ growing attitude. “I’m just asking because I don’t feel like we’ve had much of a night together and I’m disappointed.” 

He’s met with silence and Harry begins to feel like he’s fighting a loosing battle. For something to do that doesn’t make him feel useless, Harry begins to tidy up. Whilst Louis remains silent and stock still, Harry wanders into the living room to find Freddie fast asleep, head drooped onto his shoulder, cake crumbs lining his mouth and bowl in his lap. He smiles at him fondly before gently removing the bowl to take it into the kitchen to add to the pile in the sink. “Freddie is asleep. You should take him home to bed.”

“Are you asking me to leave?” Louis wonders, sounding incredulous.

“You obviously don’t have anything to say to me. I’d prefer it if we didn’t fight.” Harry is saddened by the thought of them fighting at all. The feeling must translate into his expression because Louis’ presence comes closer and he tentatively reaches a hand out to rest on Harry’s hip. “I don’t understand why we’re suddenly keeping secrets.”

That implication seems to be the final straw for Louis as he exhales heavily, relenting. “We’re not.” He pauses. “Andy has been a thorn in my side today, is all.”

Harry turns to face him. “About what?”

Louis hesitates, rubbing Harry’s hip, then quietly admits, “You.”

“He has a problem with me?” Louis nods. “In what way exactly?”

“He doesn’t like how fond Freddie is of you. He thinks I’m trying to play happy families.”

“Because I have a baby too?” Louis nods again, eyes cast downwards. “I’m not trying to replace him, Louis. I would never want to. But you’re allowed to move on. I’m so lucky to get to call you my boyfriend.”

Something in Louis softens at the term, his eyes lifting to meet Harry’s gaze once more, a brightness in them that wasn’t there before. He sways closer to Harry and hooks his chin over his shoulder. Closing his eyes, Harry revels in the embrace for a moment. It’s the first time either of them have said the ‘b’ word out loud though they’ve probably been able to use the term for a few weeks now.

“I know you’re not trying to replace Andy.” Louis assures him quietly. “But it sucks when my ex-boyfriend is calling my current boyfriend every awful name under the sun when they’ve never even met.”

“Then I’ll meet him.” Harry tells him decisively. “Let him meet me and then he can form a proper judgment on me even though anything he says won’t stop me from being in yours or Freddie’s lives.”

Louis snuffles against his shoulder and kisses the skin where Harry’s neck meets his shoulder. Nosing at Louis’ cheek, Harry tries to encourage him into a proper kiss. Before Louis gives into it, he murmurs, “You’re fucking brilliant” against Harry’s lips then really goes in for it, tongue searching out Harry’s and aligning their bodies so there’s zero amount of space between them. Moaning into it the kiss, Harry melts into Louis’ body. His heart thunders in his chest and his knees feel weak. Louis nips on his bottom lip and the sharp pain is enough to bring him back into himself.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Harry rushes out. “Can I just say something first?”

“Sure, baby, go ahead.” Louis replies in between kisses down his throat.

“In future, please tell me about anything to do with Andy. It affects me too now.” He sighs when Louis grazes his teeth over the sensitive skin of his neck, his vision going slightly hazy. “Promise me, Lou.”

Louis kisses him long and hard before responding, “Of course, Harry. I promise.”

“Ok, we can continue now.” Harry chuckles breathily.

And they do. They continue to kiss and touch and indulge in each other, Louis keeping Harry trapped against the kitchen sink, all while keeping it relatively tame. Or at least until Bonnie interrupts them with her loud babbling for attention. Louis drops his head onto Harry’s shoulder with a laugh.

“One day, I’ll get my hands on you properly.”

“Is that a promise or a threat?” Harry teases with a smirk.

“Both.” Louis smirks right back.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Harry promises with a wink before slinking off to see to his daughter, wiggling his bum a bit more for Louis as a parting gift.

“Tease.” Louis grumbles under his breath.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

Whilst Harry adores his sister, he does not adore the way she is currently pushing him to tell their mother about his newly acquired relationship status. Gemma is awesome for advice, fiercely protective and loving, a perfect person for pushing when you need someone to support and encourage you. But Gemma also has a habit of being a bit too full on, of trying and trying and trying until she eventually gets you to give in. Harry knows that’s the exact way their conversation is headed right now, but he’s determined to try and stand his ground for as long as possible.

After their small spat at the weekend, he and Louis have truly been in the honeymoon period of their relationship. Louis has come by every night after school giving Harry a proper insight into what he does. Harry sat next to him at the kitchen table as he went through the marking and let Louis vent about his day and talk about what more he hopes to do once September comes and the new school year starts. They sacrificed their usual date night in favour of staying in, this time over at Louis’, being truly domesticated. The rush Harry got when Louis joined in at bath time with Bonnie cannot be compared to anything else. Harry finds himself wishing it were Louis accompanying him to Water Babies rather than his sister because he would truly enjoy watching-not just because his sister is annoying him to no end.

“You know Mum wants me to FaceTime her so she can see Bonnie in the water.” Gemma tries in an effort to go get him to relent.

“I know.” Harry replies.

“So if I do, I’ll tell her.” she threatens.

Harry shrugs, fed up with Gemma’s constant pushing. “So do it. I really don’t care.”

Gemma frowns. That was obviously not the outcome she was expecting. “What’s wrong?”

“I know what you’re like. You’ll tell her whether I want you to or not.” Harry sighs, bouncing Bonnie in the warm water. “But I would much prefer to tell her on my own terms so that she doesn’t feel she’s been lied to.”

Harry is still struggling with how to tell his mother Louis already has a son. He knows she’ll be over the moon that he’s finally found someone he wants to share the more intimate parts of himself with, but he also is aware that she will pick up on several other things; namely the timing and the fact there’s a second child to factor in as well as an ex who already isn’t Harry’s biggest fan. Sooner rather than later, Harry would like to tell her because he wants them to meet. He can picture Sunday dinners becoming a thing with them all around his mother’s table enjoying a roast dinner and playing board games while the kids fall asleep in front of the TV. Harry and his mum have discussed this at length before so now that it’s a possibility, Harry wants it more than usual.

“You haven’t mentioned anything, have you?” Gemma asks. Harry shakes his head. He knows that once he gets started about Louis he has trouble stopping. Niall has had several earfuls already. “Then why would she feel lied to?”

“She just would. You know she likes to be the first one to know.”

“Well this is a bit different, isn’t it? Just tell her, Harry. I promise she’ll be fine.”

For the rest of the Water Babies lesson, Harry stews over the issue. Of course he coos at his daughter and is involved in everything because his little girl overwhelms him with how bright and clever she’s already proving to be (and that’s not just him being biased), but it’s in the back of his mind and making him nervous. Thankfully, Gemma doesn’t mention a thing during the promised FaceTime call but he resolves to call his mum himself when he gets back. He’ll be left with a couple of hours before Louis comes over to sort his head out and then he can put forward the idea of Louis meeting his mum. 

What he doesn’t expect is the sight of his mum’s car sat in his driveway when Gemma drops him off. Instantly, his palms begin to sweat and his mouth runs dry. Harry is taking this as divine intervention (or karma) telling him its time to put his big boy pants on and tell his mum about Louis and face the consequences of keeping him (and his son) a secret. He hears Gemma snicker next to him and on reflex his gives her a playful dig in the thigh whilst mumbling for her to shut up. It’s moments like these when he regrets giving his family keys to his house. With a deep breath and a good luck wish from his sister, Harry climbs out of the car and collects Bonnie from the back. She begins babbling at him and Harry can’t help but smile at her, feeling his nerves calm slightly. He wipes the drool from her chin with her bib and kisses her on the cheek feeling less reason to be nervous. Louis is good for him and good for Bonnie. As long as he lets his mother know that, nothing else matters.

Anne is waiting on the doorstep for them with an adoring smile and soft eyes.

“Here she is, clever little girl.” Anne coos at her granddaughter. “You’re growing so big and beautiful, come to Nanny.” She reaches out and Harry hands Bonnie over. His mum then gives him a kiss on the cheek hello and ushers him into the house. She’s made herself at home already, an open magazine on the arm of the couch and a cup of tea on the coffee table, but Harry doesn’t mind. “How are you, love?”

“I’m good.” Harry tells her. “Bonnie has started to cut her first tooth and I swear she says ‘dada’ but I think it’s just wishful thinking.” Anne chuckles, bouncing Bonnie on her hip. “Louis likes to indulge me though.”

Harry tries to keep it casual as he absorbs his mum’s reaction to the name drop. All he notices is that she looks at him curiously but she doesn’t ask questions. He knows its her way of silently encouraging him to tell her on his own. It’s exactly how she got him to come out to her way back when he was seventeen and confused. He then feels his phone vibrate in his pocket and he knows its a text from Louis asking what Harry would like for tea and it makes every sense of casual nonchalance evaporate from his body.

“Louis’ my boyfriend.” he blurts, keeping his eyes on Bonnie rather than his mum but even then he can see how she stills, shocked by his confession. “I met him briefly last year and then ran into him again the day Bonnie was born and I’m beginning to believe it might have been fate.” he continues in a rush and then finally looks up at his mum.

“Wow.” she breathes and then a tentative smile curls the corners of her lips. “Take a breath, love, you look a bit peaky.” Harry lets himself smile then, exhaling heavily and shaking his head at his own silliness. “If you’re talking about fate you must be pretty serious about him.”

“I am.” Harry agrees. “The most serious. We kind of have to be with Bonnie in the picture.”

Anne nods, wiping away Bonnie’s drool. “He’s good with her?”

“He’s amazing, Mum. Right from the start he didn’t care about getting stuck in. We did bath time together for the first time last night and he was just so brilliant. He made her laugh and gave her kisses and I almost cried. He’s just…” Harry trails off, unsure of what word to use to describe what Louis already means to him, but one look at his mum and she seems to understand.

“I’m so happy for you, Harry.” she tells him, her smile bright and her eyes warm. “I know you know what I’m about to tell you though.” Harry nods, preparing himself. “It’s a big thing to get into a relationship when you have a child. I know you know that.” Harry nods again. “I want you to be careful. And I hope Louis understands the responsibility he’s taking on.”

Harry knows now that this is an opening to drop the bomb. This is the moment he should tell his mum that Louis understands because he’s taking a risk himself by entering a new relationship with a child from a previous one. Harry’s face must go pale because his mum narrows her eyes at him and slowly comes closer. She’s not intimidating him, but she knows how uncomfortable Harry gets when he has something big to tell her.

“What aren’t you telling me?” she enquires softly.

“Please don’t freak out.” Harry requests, squeezing his eyes shut. Anne doesn’t say anything so Harry takes her silence as agreement. “Louis is,” he pauses and takes a breath, “Louis already has a son. He’s three and his name is Freddie. He’s great.” This time, the silence is not comfortable at all. It’s filled with what Harry thinks is judgment and hesitance. “Um, I’m just going to make myself some tea.”

Harry quickly escapes to the kitchen. He notices as he takes a mug down from the cupboard that his hands are shaking. He doesn’t want his mum to be disappointed, or for her to be wary of Louis just on principle. The kettle is just beginning to boil when his mum joins him-sans Bonnie-and leans on the counter. She doesn’t look mad, just completive. Putting a gentle hand on Harry’s wrist, she stops him from picking up the kettle. His mother’s nails are painted a sparkly wine red which distracts him momentarily as he thinks about asking her to paint his.

“I’ll do yours once we’ve talked.” Anne says with a smirk to her voice. Harry chances a glance up and is glad that she’s smiling. “Why were you so worried about telling me?”

“Because it’s a lot.” Harry sighs, his shoulders slumping. “And I was worried you’d think I was getting in over my head.”

“I trust you, Harry.” Anne says firmly. “I’ll admit its a bit unconventional and I would like to meet him and vet him myself. But he’s obviously making you very happy.” Harry nods letting a smile slip through. “So I’ll keep an open mind and trust that I’ve raised you well enough to know what’s best for yourself and for your daughter.”

“Thank you.” he replies and he really is truly grateful for the wonderful woman he gets to call his mum. For a moment, he hesitates in his next question, but then he decides he should just bite the bullet and get all the scary stuff out of the way in one day. “You could maybe meet him today?”

Anne smiles and squeezes his wrist. “If you want, love. There’s no rush.”

“I’ll call him.” he looks up at the clock. It’s half past three so Louis should be finished up by now. “He usually comes over on a Thursday night anyway.”

To try and create a sense of privacy (he already knows its in vain, his mum will be listening whether he wants her to or not but Harry likes the illusion), Harry wanders off to living room with the phone pressed to his ear. Bonnie is amusing herself with her own feet on her play-mat and he’s so focused on watching her he misses Louis’ greeting as he answers the call.

“Harry?” Louis calls him for what must be the second time.

“Sorry.” Harry giggles with a blush rising to his cheeks. “Bonnie is being cute and distracting.”

“As always.” Louis replies fondly. “Are you ok? Did you get my text?”

“I haven’t read it.” Harry tells him. “But I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure.”

“Will Andy let you have Freddie for a couple of hours tonight?”

“Probably. Why?”

Harry takes a deep breath and then says as calmly as he can, “My mum is here and she’d like to meet you. I thought maybe we could go for dinner somewhere.”

“That sounds lovely.” Louis says and it sounds completely genuine. He doesn’t sound put off or nervous at all. “I’ll text Andy and ask him. It should be fine though. Tell her I’m looking forward to meeting her.”

After they end the call, Harry is left feeling astounded, though he really shouldn’t be because it’s Louis. He’s never blinked twice or approached anything with hesitance when it comes to milestones in their relationship since the day they met. Harry should have known that meeting an important family member wouldn’t be any different. His mum is pleased when he tells her that Louis is up for meeting her and thankfully she offers to keep an eye on Bonnie while he gets a shower and makes himself presentable. He doesn’t concern himself too much with what he’s wearing-they’re only going to a nearby pub-so he’s ready relatively quickly. His mum is rocking Bonnie to sleep in her arms when Harry gets downstairs and Harry mentally calculates how long he can let her sleep if he wants her to sleep right through tonight.

“You look nice, love.” Anne says with a wink. Harry can’t help but blush. His mum starts to laugh as she tries to pinch his cheek.

“Mum, stop.” Harry grumbles through a smile.

“I’m only getting started.” she teases. “Wait until I meet Louis, then you’ll be embarrassed.” Harry opens his mouth to try to plead with her but she halts him with a finger to his lips. “Let me have this, Harry, you know I only tease you out of love.”

Harry sighs and concedes-not that his objection would have mattered anyway-before taking Bonnie so he can get her coat on and into her pram. Thankfully, summer has well and truly set in making the air a bit warmer, perfect for their walk to the pub. The fresh air calms Harry somewhat as they walk, so much so that as they approach the pub at the same time as Louis gets Freddie out of the car, he doesn’t even think about his mum watching as he swings the little boy that barrels into his legs up into his arms.

“Hey, bud!” Harry greets Freddie. “I see you’ve brought George too.”

Freddie nods and cuddles his toy dinosaur closer to his chest. “Daddy said I could bring him.”

“That was kind of him.” Harry says, smiling as Louis comes closer to him and immediately leans in to greet him with a kiss. They end up knocking George out of Freddie’s grasp. “Oops.” Harry chuckles as Louis bends down to grab it.

“Hi.” Louis chuckles back as he returns George to his owner and gives Harry a sweet peck on the cheek.

Harry takes a moment just to look at Louis. His eyes are a vibrant, enticing blue, he’s clean shaven and smells delicious. If his mother wasn’t standing behind him he’d take a minute more to really appreciate Louis’ effort, but as it is, his mother is waiting patiently to meet his boyfriend so Harry takes a small step back and allows Louis to get closer to her before he introduces them to each other. Anne obviously appreciates Louis’ good looks too because before she goes in for the hug she raises her eyebrows and mouths “well done” much to Harry’s mortification. When Louis pulls back, it’s Freddie’s turn for introductions and he must know because he’s already gone shy, hiding his face in Harry’s shoulder.

“Freddie, this is my mummy, Anne. Can you say hi?” Harry asks. Freddie peaks his head out for long enough to say hello before going back into his hiding spot. All three adults laugh fondly. “He’ll warm up to you.” he then promises his mother.

“He looks so much like you, Louis.” she says as they shuffle into the pub, Louis smiling like the sun next to her as he pushes Bonnie’s pram.

The pub is relatively quiet considering it’s a Thursday night. They find a table big enough for them easily and Louis volunteers to go and search for a high chair for Bonnie. She’s just snuffling awake, rubbing at her nose and lips pouting as she fights to stay asleep. Louis returns just as her eyes blink open, leaning over her pram and calling her name. She turns her head to look at him and is instantly much more awake, her legs visibly kicking and wiggling beneath her blanket. With a smile that crinkles beside his eyes, Louis reaches in for her and greets her with loud kisses on her cheeks. She begins laughing and Harry watches for his mother’s reaction. It’s obvious she’s shocked by their closeness and comfort, but it’s not in the horrific way, it’s more pleasant and awed. Louis settles her in the high chair and Harry reaches for his hand and squeezes it in silent thanks. He’d kiss him if his mother wasn’t analysing their every move and he’d rather not give her a show.

Anne seems to be on a mission to find out everything about Louis. She keeps him talking about his family and Freddie’s early years for the entirety of their dinner (thankfully, she doesn’t ask about Louis’ ex and Harry doesn’t really feel like telling her he’s already made an enemy without so much as knowing what he looks like). Louis is a complete gem. He takes all the questions in his stride, answers them all with a smile, in between making sure both Freddie and Bonnie are ok since Harry seems to have been rendered useless except for watching Louis in complete adoration. His mother nudges him countless times to remember to keep eating before his food goes cold.

As it gets closer to seven, Louis’ phone starts to ring, interrupting him as he tells the story that lead to him and Harry eventually meeting again. Harry is especially intrigued since Louis never actually told him how Freddie ended up with an M&M stuck up his nose at such an early hour but Andy’s name is flashing across the top of Louis’ screen so he’ll have to wait a little longer to hear it.

“Excuse me for just a second.” Louis says as he gets up and takes the phone with him.

Anne smiles at him as he leaves before turning her attention to Harry and raising her eyebrows questioningly.

“Where my daddy going?” Freddie asks as he watches Louis’ retreating back.

“He’s just on the phone to your-“ he hesitates, unsure of how to reference Andy but he then remembers a conversation he and Louis had in the kitchen, “to Andy.” Harry explains.

“Andy?” Harry’s mum enquires.

“He my other daddy.” Freddie tells her. “But daddy calls him Andy.”

Harry stores away the fact that Freddie is evidently aware of who Andy is to him, but resolves to ask Louis to explain why he’s never referred to as just “Daddy” or any derivative thereof. After he’s wiped Bonnie’s chin free of dribble, Harry looks at his mother who’s regarding him with a soft smile.

“Louis is lovely.” Anne tells him. “And he’s brilliant with Bonnie. You’ve picked a good one.”

“I know.” Harry replies smugly. He knows how good he’s got it and how lucky he is, but it’s still nice to have his mum’s approval and assurance that she also sees how amazing his boyfriend is. “Bonnie loves him and Freddie too. Doesn’t she, Fred?” Harry says, poking Freddie playfully in the side.

Freddie giggles and shies away from the attack but before it can develop into full on tickling, Louis returns with a regretful smile as he looks at his son.

“Time to go, Fred.” Louis says. “Dad wants you to go home.”

Like the flick of a switch, Freddie’s demeanour changes. He deflates his chair and frowns, his expression identical to his father’s when he wears it.

“No, Daddy.” Freddie pouts.

“I’m sorry, mate, but it’s almost your bedtime.” Louis tells him gently, crouching down to his level. “Come on then, let’s get your coat on.”

Freddie’s eyes start to go red and his bottom lip trembles. Harry’s heart breaks a little watching, but he knows there’s nothing he can do. Technically, it’s not Louis’ night with him until tomorrow, but tonight has been so lovely that he’s sad to for Freddie having to leave. As soon as the tears and quiet crying begins, Harry starts to pout himself.

“Please, Daddy.” Freddie cries. “Stay with Harry.”

Then, much to Harry’s surprise, the boy reaches out for him and crawls into his lap. Harry cuddles him without thinking about it, rocking him back and forth in an effort to soothe him.

“You can come and see me tomorrow, bud.” Harry promises.

“No.” Freddie wails. “Stay.”

Harry looks to Louis helplessly. They haven’t discussed Freddie staying over at his place yet, Harry figured it would be a conversation for much further down the road, but Harry just wants to see the little boy smile again and all four of them staying in one house, almost like a family, doesn’t seem like the scary prospect he once thought it to be.

He and Louis begin to have silent conversation with their eyes. Harry tries to tell him he’s ok with both of them staying over. Louis seems to understand but there’s something in his eyes that says it’s not going to happen-not by his own denial, but because there’s a very slim chance Andy will agree to it. But eventually, after listening to Freddie quietly beg when he really shouldn’t have to, Louis sighs and says, “Give me a sec,” and takes out his phone again.

Once Louis is out of earshot, Harry’s mum leans her elbows on the table and clasps her hands together whilst she gives Harry a serious look.

“What?” Harry asks. Freddie has quieted down to just sniffles, tiredness obviously overriding his upset.

“Having both of them stay over is a big step, Harry.”

“I’m aware.” Harry nods.

“You two haven’t been together long. I’m not sure you should be taking this step yet.”

“He’s it for me, Mum. I’m pretty sure I’m more than halfway in love with him.” Harry says decisively, though he understands where his mum is coming from. “We’re in this for the long haul so whether we do this now or in three months time, it really doesn’t make much difference.”

“That’s a rather big statement, Harry.” Anne says with wide eyes. “But,” she then continues before Harry can cut in with more defensive arguments, “I know you wouldn’t say it if you didn’t mean it. Just don’t get too carried away, love. Promise me? Always make sure you two are on the same page, and not just for the sake of the kids, but for the sake of your own hearts, ok?”

Harry nods at his mum with soft eyes, appreciative of her concern and her advice. After all, his mum was the one who called the shots in her relationship with his dad. She was the one who decided they weren’t on the same page and that it wasn’t healthy for them to stay together just because of him and Gemma. Harry sees her as his role model, especially because he saw how happy she was with his step-dad. He hopes she can find that happiness again.

Louis comes back, his hair messy from where he’s run his hands through it in frustration. Andy obviously wasn’t very pleased with the idea but considering there’s no sign of a regretful grimace on his lips, he assumes they were given the go ahead to keep Freddie for the night.

“Freddie Bear,” Harry sing songs to the quiet boy on his lap, “Daddy is back.” Freddie turns his face into Harry’s neck in an attempt to hide. Louis rolls his eyes with a fond smile as Harry and Anne share a silent laugh. “I think Daddy wants to tell you something.”

Tentatively, Freddie turns his head to look at his father. Louis bows down to be closer and speaks quietly into Freddie’s ear. It takes approximately two seconds for a smile stretch across the little boys face and then he leans in to give Louis a kiss and a hug before turning back to look at Harry.

“Please can I sleep at your house?” Freddie asks with a giddy smile and excitement lighting up his eyes.

“I think that would be ok.” Harry agrees. “We’ll have to get you some pyjamas.”

Again, Freddie looks to his dad. “Jamas, Daddy.”

“We’ll get you some, bud.” Louis promises and Harry honestly couldn’t be more excited.

So that’s how they find themselves at a Tesco buying Freddie some Spiderman pyjamas after saying goodbye to Anne with kisses on the cheek and promises to do it again soon. But because Harry wants this to be a common occurrence, Harry adds some Batman and Paw Patrol pyjamas to the basket in Freddie’s size and with the soft look Louis gives him in response when they get to the till and Harry pays, Harry knows he’s made the right decision.

When they’re walking back the car, Harry notices a sudden rigidity to Louis posture. His eyebrows are scrunched into a thoughtful expression and he’s got his bottom lipped trapped between his teeth. Harry sways closer, nudging him slightly to get his attention. Louis turns to him, halting slightly in his tracks causing Freddie to bump into his legs. Louis steadies him with a gentle hand but his expression doesn’t falter. Harry presumes it has something to do with Andy. Louis only ever become aloof or hesitant when there’s something pertaining to Andy on his mind.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asks, using his thumb to try and smooth the crease between Louis’ brows.

“You realise that tomorrow I’m working, right?”

“Yes?” Harry says, or asks because he’s not sure where Louis is going with this.

“I’m up and out usually before Freddie wakes up.”

“I’m still not sure where the problem is here?”

“Not a problem as such,” Louis sighs, lifting Freddie as Harry opens the car door for him, “just something I’m trying to wrap my head around.” Louis lowers Freddie into his carseat and begins buckling him in. “I’m just wondering whether you want me to wake Freddie when I get up and take him with me, or whether you’re happy for me to leave him and you can drop him off after breakfast.”

Harry pauses, mind assessing what Louis has just said and its implications. “You mean, like, drop him off at Andy’s?” Louis nods, his lip bitten again. “I don’t mind, Louis. I’ll do whatever you would prefer for me to do.”

“But we only spoke about you meeting Andy, like, last week. I don’t want you to think I’m just thrusting it upon you, especially when he wasn’t too happy about letting Freddie stay. I’d hate for him to give you a hard time.”

Harry can’t help himself then, he swoops down, cups Louis’ jaw and gives him a tender kiss. He rests their foreheads together when he pulls away and smiles-just a small curl of the lips-in response to Louis’ happy hum.

“I love how much you care.” Harry says in a quiet voice. “But you really don’t need to worry. If he gives me a hard time, he’s only proving himself to be a petty human being. I won’t play into anything he instigates, I promise.” He pauses then, nudging his nose against Louis’ before letting out a nervous exhale. “I want to be good for Freddie.” He whispers. “Like, a good influence, I mean.”

“You are.” Louis whispers, but he does so confidently. “Freddie loves you Harry.”

The smiles that spreads on Harry’s lips can only be described as bashful. He finally moves out of Louis’ space and turns to look at his daughter. She’s amusing herself with the toys dangling above her, something that Louis bought for her and Harry is suddenly overwhelmed by how much they already feel like a family. Tonight-Freddie staying over-is truly the beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me at emstyles94x.tumblr.com


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